Twos and One Eyed Jacks Wild
by Disco Inferno1
Summary: Sequel to “Playing Charades.” Bischoff is released on parole and Nash and Michaels disappear. With no evidence pointing to Bischoff, intuition sends Therese and Stephanie on a chase halfway across the world. COMPLETE. Extended Epilogue added!
1. An Anonymous Apology?

_**Twos and One-Eyed Jacks Wild**_

_Disco Inferno1_

**Summary: **Sequel to _Playing Charades. _Eric Bischoff is released on parole and Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels mysteriously disappear. No evidence points toward Bischoff and only intuition sends Therese Blair Nash and Stephanie McMahon Michaels on a chase that will lead them half way across the world.

**Rating: **T or PG-13 for mild swearing, sexual situations, and mild violence.

**Disclaimer:** I do not in any way lay claim to any name or character in the WWE. This is not-for-profit fiction. The only profit received is pure entertainment. Poetic license has been taken with character personas, along with television canon. Original characters of Therese and Evan Blair and Dinah and Lily Nash are copyright of Disco Inferno1, 2004-05.

**A/N:**This fic will follow the first ending of _Playing Charades. _I apologize to any Cena fans but I just can't write him as he deserves. Plus, I'm a little partial to Shawn Michaels. (note facetious grin)

_Chapter I will begin with the epilogue but several items have been changed. Even though the majority of it is the same, I would advise not skipping the first part of the chapter even though it is familiar._

**_

* * *

Chapter I: An Anonymous Apology? _**

The French doors closing caught her attention and Therese yelled into the family room, "Evan, come help me please." When there was no response, she set the ladle down, turned off the stove, and pushed the pot of sauce onto a cold eye. "Evan—" she started, heading out of the kitchen, but her scowl turned into a smile. "You're home early!"

Kevin returned the smile and stepped around his duffle bag that just seen two and a half weeks of travel. "I just couldn't wait so I took another flight," he replied and pulled her into a gentle hug, nuzzling her neck. "How long do you think I can have you before anyone notices I'm home?"

"I don't know," she suggestively replied. "Evan should be home from basketball practice at any minute but with—" The phone ringing interrupted her and she went back to the kitchen where the closest phone was. Glancing at the callerID, she recognized the number. "Hey, Steph, what can I do for you?" she asked.

"Here, let me have her," Kevin whispered to Therese and carefully cradled the infant that was asleep on her shoulder.

"How much longer are you on maternity leave with Lily?" Stephanie asked.

"We talked about this last week."

"I just wanted to make sure."

"I've got one more month before I go back," the blonde replied, now an employee with the Atlanta training facility of Pendleton's company, much to Evan's relief. "They gave me four months, remember? Why do you—" She stopped when Ruby, the usually highly lazy beagle, streaked by with a doll's dress hanging off her fat body. "Watch out," she warned Kevin. He turned in the direction from which the dog came in time to be smacked in the legs by a little brown-headed girl carrying baby booties.

"Daddy!" she shouted and Kevin scooped her up into his only free arm, hugging his two daughters to him.

"Is everything okay?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah," she answered, "Dinah was attempting to dress Ruby for the _second _time today."

"I'm gonna wait until I'm as old as you were when you had her. I don't think I can handle one now," the brunette nervously laughed.

"You're almost there now."

"Don't remind me. Besides, I don't think I could handle one and deal with this."

"Deal with what?" Therese asked, a little worried at the sound of Stephanie's voice. "If this is about Bischoff's early parole, we've already talked about it. Not only do you have a restraining order against him, I've got one as well as my girls."

Kevin let Dinah slide down to the floor to take off after the dog again and caressed the blonde peach-fuzz on Lily's head as his wife's face slightly paled as she listened to the other woman's short reply. She looked up at him and whispered, "Steph got an anonymous letter today."

"What did it say?" Kevin asked.

Therese looked confused for a moment and realized that she had freaked out over something she truly had no idea about. "Steph, read me the note."

"'I'm sorry…'"

"That's okay. What did it say?"

"That's what it says!" Stephanie replied in frustration.

"Then what are you worried about?" the blonde replied nonchalantly and turned back to the sauce and noodles cooking on the stove.

"Bischoff got out two days ago and this shows up!"

"It looks like he's apologizing," Therese said with a shrug, trying to convince herself and Stephanie that there was nothing with which to be concerned.

"Are you crazy? When has that man ever apologized and especially for something like what he did to us," she angrily replied.

"You've kinda got a point…but it's hardly threatening. I wouldn't worry about it. Send it to Pendleton if it makes you feel better. Then I want you to put on something sexy and wait for your husband,"Therese comforted and turned around just to make sure her suggestion would be fruitful for Mrs. Shawn Michaels. Kevin wiggled his eyebrows and nodded but then reached out to caress her breast. She smacked at his hand and continued to prepare dinner.

"Wait for my husband?"

"You'll see. Now, I have two hungry men and two hungry girls and that's not counting the dog or myself," she replied, watching Lily wake up and begin to root around on her father's chest for her own meal.

"Maybe I am overreacting…" Stephanie trailed off. "Can we talk again tomorrow?"

Therese glanced around the kitchen door at Kevin going through Lily's things in the living room to find a pacifier as the baby was progressing in her fussiness. "I'm gonna be really busy but I'll call you this week as soon as I get a free moment, okay? Alright, now, talk to you later, bye." Therese hung up on Stephanie's protests, feeling a slightly bit guilty and a lot justified as a very sweaty Evan popped into the kitchen to immediately ask what was for supper.

"Shower first," the blonde ordered and pointed towards the hall. Shaking her head as he muttered to himself while he stalked off, Therese prepared the formula for Lily and then handed it off to Kevin who was cradling her on the couch, attempting to placate the infant. "Wanna feed her?" The look on his face said, 'Are you kidding?' as he took the bottle and situated the tiny girl.

* * *

"God, I've missed you," Therese muttered, snuggling closer to Kevin. "I'm so glad you got home a day early." 

"Me too, sugar," he replied and pulled her closer, kissing her forehead.

"Hmmm…" she sighed and then he decided to take it a little farther. When he left on his last road trip, she wasn't ready to have intimate relations after giving birth even though it had been two and a half months. After Dinah was born, it had taken her a little longer to heal than what was usual and he assumed it was the same this time as there had been more complications with Lily. He found himself working out more and taking more cold showers over the past four months, two of those because she was on bedrest before delivery. She had never been still that long in her life and had almost gone stir-crazy. He had about shot himself and her having to deal with her moaning and his taking care of Dinah and the house.

Kevin tipped her head up and stole a few kisses. When Therese didn't pull back, he kissed her harder and ran his hands over her body and then up to her breasts. Caressing them, he noticed there was less swollen than usual. Out of nowhere, she pulled back and started crying.

"Oh, Rese, what's wrong?" he cooed, aware that he was selfishly frustrated.

"I'm a terrible mother," she sobbed.

Kevin refrained from making a face and wondering how long post-partum depression was supposed to last. He knew better than to say that because he would get a tongue lashing. Soon, it would all be over and he'd have his wife back, not once asking for an apology because he learned the hard way how women dealt with pregnancy and a new baby when Dinah came along. "No, you're not. What happened?"

"I can't even feed my own baby," she answered, sitting up in bed.

Kevin sighed, knowing exactly what the problem was. "I take it things haven't gotten any better since you haven't said a word while I was on the road. I should have known when you handed me that bottle."

"I didn't wanna worry you, so I didn't say anything," she squalled. "She's off breastmilk completely."

"Baby, lots of women don't breastfeed and their babies turn out fine. Lily's gonna be alright," he assured her, situating himself around her to starting rubbing her back and shoulders. She was so tense he could barely massage the muscles.

"You think so?" Therese barely got out around the sobs.

"Of course," he answered and kissed her neck, continuing to rub her back while she had her cry out. He couldn't imagine how she had managed to take care of Lily all day and Dinah for the most part when she wasn't in preschool. Therese wasn't one to show emotion beyond watching hockey, which she couldn't do as much. If letting her cry this out helped her let off steam the way hockey did, he wouldn't stop her.

When she was finally reduced to sniffles, she turned around and wrapped her legs around his waist, leaning her forehead to his. "You remember when I yelled at you in delivery room that I thought you were a terrible father and I could do this without you?"

Actually, he hadn't thought about the comment since. "Yeah, but you were in quite a bit of pain and I didn't put any stock in it."

"Whatever you thought, I didn't mean it and I would never say that. I would go crazy without you," she said, running the back of her hand down his cheek.

"I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart," he replied, reciprocating the action

"You also remember when I yelled at you that you'd never get between these legs again?"

He chuckled softly and replied, "You also said that with Dinah, so how do you think we got Lily?" He suggestively wiggled his eyebrows.

"The stork maybe?"

"Well, you see, there's a problem with this already—I _am _between your legs," Kevin huskily explained.

"Wanna stay there?" she asked, pulling his bottom lip between her teeth.

The groan that started low in his throat was an easy answer for her. When she began trailing kisses across his face and down to his neck, he began, "Everything's alright for us to…"

"I assume so," she replied, punctuating each word with a kiss. "But a man's got needs, right?"

Kevin grasped her by the shoulders and held her back to look her in the face. "When have you ever said anything like that to me?" She had never lied about having a headache when she didn't want to make love—she flat out told him she didn't want to do it. Once, when he was particularly persistent about wanting her, she had slapped a magazine in his hands and pushed him towards the bathroom. "What brought this on?"

"I don't want you looking somewhere else for something I should be giving. I'm not a spring chicken anymore," she said quietly, glancing away. "I _look _like I've had two kids."

"Therese Nash, you listen to me and you listen good. I am _not _hooking up with any woman on the road and I have _no _intentions of ever doing that. You have given me two beautiful daughters and why wouldn't I want their beautiful mother they look just like?" He dropped his hands to her waist that still held some of her maternity weight. "If this is what happens to get my girls, so what? _You _are what I want, _they _are what I want. I wouldn't do _anything _to ruin that."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, dropping her eyes from his.

"Don't you be. If you're in the least bit worried about something, you tell me. I don't want anything bothering you. Now, really, could you want some crooked kneed man who has more gray hair than somebody's grandmother or is it really something else?"

"You look sophisticated with your gray. And, yes, god, yes, I want you," she eagerly replied the last and passionately attacked him.

TBC…

**

* * *

Author's Notes:** If you've read most of my stories, you'll know things start slow. Next chapter, we get what's currently going on with Stephanie. Then after that, it really gets going. Thanks for reading! 


	2. Abstinence? Are You Crazy?

_**Chapter II: Abstinence? Are You Crazy?**_

Therese had indeed called Stephanie within the next couple of days but the VP was in between conference calls and they had talked only a few minutes. Now the brunette sat in her home office, exhausted from a long day. This week she and Shawn were staying in her Stamford home but, next week, they'd be heading to San Antonio. Neither wanted to give up their homes, so now they had a summer and a winter home even though they spent time in each whenever they wanted. She had one last phone call to make and dialed Aaron Pendleton's office to make sure they had received her overnight package. They informed her that they had indeed as Shawn entered the office.

"I thought you were done for the day," he said, wrapping his arms around the chair and her as she replaced the receiver.

"I am now, baby," she replied, feeling a bit guilty that she hadn't told him about the letter. If it was nothing as Therese suggested, there was no point in worrying him. If there was… Well, she wouldn't think about that right now. "Oh, wait," she exclaimed as a message popped up on her computer stating that she had an e-mail from Therese. "I have to read this. I hope it's what I think it is!"

Stephanie clicked on the link to open the message and she was greeted with the sleeping face of the blonde's newest baby. "That's Lily?" Shawn asked in surprise, looking over his wife's shoulder. "God, she's growing like a weed."

"I know. She's only three months old but I think she takes after her father in that department." There were several more pictures and the couple scrolled through them. Dinah was adorable holding her baby sister but it was the family photo that brought an ache to Stephanie's heart. The photographer has positioned the family so that Kevin was holding Dinah while Therese sat in close with Lily at her breast. Ruby the beagle was situated in between the adults.

A lot had happened for the two women in five years. The incident that brought them together had ignited the media. Ratings skyrocketed for WWE and business poured in Aaron Pendleton's firm. He had begged Therese to stay but she and Kevin immediately moved to Atlanta, just in time to get Evan registered for school there. Therese began training security agents at the Atlanta facility, completely out of the line of any fire, much to Evan's relief. Within the year, she and Kevin had been married. Dinah followed shortly and Lily four years later. Evan was now two months away from his high school graduation with a full scholarship waiting for him to play basketball at the University of Tennessee—thanks to Kevin.

Stephanie and Shawn had dated for three years before he proposed and now they had been married for nine months. Stephanie had suffered the ignominy of being kicked off of television after the attack by the stalker but the contract had only been in regards to the televised events. She started in the office, investigating her father's unethical practices, began buttering up board members, and talked her way into the position of Executive Vice President of Television Production. Deciding on-screen television wasn't for her afterall, such a position allowed her to control most of what went on and still stay in the office by delegation. She stayed off RAW and SmackDown! except for the occasional interference of having to set some particular general managers straight or having to act as interim GM.

The last time she had served temporarily as a GM had made her reconsider having children. Triple H was suspended for suspending several wrestlers for no good reason other than that they had made fun of him. He was injured—again—and somehow made his way through a bet into the position. RAW was coming through Atlanta and Shawn and Stephanie were staying with Kevin and a very pregnant Therese. When time came for the three of them to leave for the arena, Therese, fully dressed, waddled into the living room and out the door to the car. Kevin demanded to know where she thought she was going and the blonde _told _him that she was going with them because she was tired of lying in bed all day. "Have you not watched wrestling? What idiot wrestler brings his pregnant wife to the arena?" he forcefully asked.

"Apparently you because I'm going with you," she replied, barely situating the seatbelt around her. Kevin threw up his hands and stalked back into the house to get his things, muttering to Shawn about how difficult she was being and couldn't wait until it was all over. Fortunately for Kevin, his wife hadn't heard him.

Stephanie attempted to persuade Therese to stay home. Yet, she regretted at first trying to stop her after arriving at the arena and seeing the woman glow as she greeted friends and animatedly talked of Dinah and the one of its way, the due date being in two weeks. Therese had really needed this. However, she hadn't needed what came at the end of the show.

The onset of labor could have been the overexertion of spending so many hours at the arena or it could have been seeing Kevin get the hell beat out of him by a particular suspended GM that everyone thought was absent. Kevin had been threatening to take the position since he wasn't wrestling anymore. His job had been Shawn's 'bodyguard' and general troublemaker, which Stephanie allowed because it drew ratings. Whatever it was, Therese was being rushed to the hospital behind the ambulance that carried her husband. Stephanie had not been able to be there for her first delivery and she was excited to be there for the second…except it didn't turn out as well as it should have.

Lily was hung in limbo between the womb and the birth canal and the doctors thought they would have to shove her wholly back in and perform a Caesarean section but then she made it through. Therese was a different story as the doctors thought they couldn't stop the bleeding. Kevin, extremely groggy from the painkillers, was torn between being with his newborn daughter and his wife but Stephanie could see the bigger picture. She sent him to be with his wife while Shawn and Stephanie were the first family to hold the little girl as they prayed for Therese's life. When she pulled through, Kevin, forehead stitched, ribs taped, and two fingers in a splint, shakily presented her with the baby and almost collapsed beside his girls in tears and exhaustion.

Stephanie had slipped out of the room, exhausted herself from the emotions of the night. After that ordeal, she didn't want _any _children. What if the same happened to her and she didn't make it? She and Shawn had held off on having children because she had wanted to focus on her career, but, lately, he had been insinuating that he wanted babies of their own. He would just have to get over it and, after that, she continued to tell him the same thing.

Now, despite the memory, Stephanie felt a longing that she knew could only be filled by one thing. Shawn sensed her inaudible sigh and leaned in to kiss her temple. "What's wrong, princess?"

She gestured at the computer screen. "They're just so…so, I don't know, cute, adorable…it's enough to make you go into sugar shock."

"Do you want a dog too, doll?" he asked with a straight face.

"See, that's it. You just don't get it," she replied in a huff.

"Steph, wait. I know what you mean. I was only kidding." The anger in her face subsided as he continued to talk. "You wanna family like that. That's what the sigh was for." She looked down and slowly nodded. "Why didn't you say so? I thought you wanted to keep focusing on your career for a while."

"I wanna do both but I don't know how."

"You could quit traveling and just work at the office," Shawn explained, sitting down on the desktop beside her. "We'll live here until she's old enough to travel and then we'll spend some time in San Antonio."

"She?"

"I just assumed that you'd want a girl after spending so much time with Kevin's girls."

"Maybe I wanna be different and have a boy," Stephanie said with a devilish grin.

"I know a boy you can have," he replied seductively and leaned in to kiss her.

"Wait," she suddenly said, putting a hand on his chest to stop him. "This is a major decision. What if we're not ready?"

"Can anybody ever _really _be ready to have kids?"

"I guess not…but let's not be rash about this," she quickly added, her hand not moving from his chest.

"Honey, if you don't want a baby, we won't have one."

She turned back to the computer and scrolled through the pictures again, stopping on the sleeping infant. "Let's do it," she suddenly said, looking up at Shawn with pleading eyes.

"I had ever intention of doing that—" he replied with a teasing smile.

"No, I mean, let's make a baby," she interrupted him, the letter from a couple of days ago completely from her mind. Shawn wasted no time and scooped her up, carrying her through the hallway and up the stairs to their bedroom.

* * *

When Stephanie wasn't pregnant in two months, she immediately made an appointment with her doctor. When she explained the problem in the office, the physician tried to send her straight home. If she wasn't pregnant within the next six months, then she could come back again and they would run tests. Stephanie was visibly upset and the woman explained that it could take some time coming off her birth control pills. She gave her some tips that usually helped other women and _then _sent her home. 

The brunette slouched into her house and flopped down on the couch, unaware that Shawn was home also. "Steph?" he called, coming into the living room with an apron of Michelangelo's "David" on it, minus the legs, arms, and head. They had found it in Rome, Italy, and couldn't resist. Stephanie turned and stared up into the naked private parts of David and she couldn't help but giggle.

"Did your check-up go alright?"

_Damn! _she thought, remembering that she had put the appointment on her calendar that was open to Shawn at all times in case he needed her. At least he thought it was only a check-up. "Yeah. Everything's still a 'go' for us."

"Supper'll be done in an hour. You wanna help me finish it up?" he asked, gesturing with a spatula in one hand.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Let me go change out of this suit."

While preparing the rest of the meal, Stephanie made small talk and Shawn realized things hadn't gone quite as well as she had claimed. When her husband presented her with dessert, he set the plate just within her grasp. When she reached for it, he pulled it back. "Only if you answer me one question," he said.

Eyeing the homemade lemon meringue, she licked her lips and replied, "What?"

"What happened today that's got you so down?"

"We're still not pregnant," she said with a sigh and downcast eyes.

"I know, princess, but we'll get there. It's gonna take some time," he responded, pushing the piece of pie in her direction, well aware that she was in need of pity food.

She immediately shoved a piece in her mouth. "But Dinah was born like nine months to the day of Kevin's and Therese's wedding," she muttered through cool whip.

"I have it on good faith that she had been off her birth control for several months."

"You mean they were trying before then?"

"No, they were just being a little old fashioned. They wanted their wedding night to be really special and decided abstinence for some time would do the trick."

"She never told me this…wait, you're not suggesting we quit making love for a while?"

"Of course not," he replied with an appalled look on his face. "I was trying to say something to help."

"Hmmpph," she said through another piece of pie.

"Finish your dessert and let's go sit in the hot tub for a while," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows. "It'll make you feel better."

TBC…


	3. I have him

_**Chapter III: "I have him. . ."**_

Therese stretched as the morning sun began to stream through the balcony windows. She checked her clock and decided she might as well get up now, which was shortly after the buttcrack of dawn. The other three girls of the house would be after her soon anyhow. She was already surprised that one of them, Ruby, wasn't already nuzzling her feet with that cold, wet nose to be let outside. Rolling over to give Kevin his customary peck on the cheek in the morning, she found the bed empty. He hardly rose before nine or ten o'clock when he could help it. Usually, _someone_ decided Daddy needed to be up with her to watch cartoons when he was home and he usually obliged but often fell back asleep on the couch with his daughter tucked in his arms.

Yet, this was too early for even Dinah to be dragging her father into the living room to watch television. The child was perpetually hungry, a trait that Lily was voraciously developing as well, and knew Momma would fix her breakfast at the slightest insistence. She would have come to Therese first before even bothering to wake Kevin.

Chiding herself for worrying too much, Therese checked the bathroom first. Her husband _was_ on the cusp of fifty but looked damn good for a man about to receive his AARP membership next month. Women still fell at his feet, especially the one married to him. Heading down the hall and past the cracked doors of her daughters' rooms, she peered into an empty living room and then softly called his name as she checked their work-out room and then the kitchen. The door to the backyard patio was open but he wasn't outside either.

After pushing the door closed, the woman turned around and it was then she saw the smear of blood on the tile floor and a note on the counter. With trembling hands, she picked it up to read the unsigned letter. "I have him and, if you're in the least interested in getting him back alive, you will wait for me to contact you and you will say nothing to the police. If you haven't received a phone call yet, you will any second." The shrill ring of the phone startled her so much, she cried out. Caring less about answering it, she raced down the hall to the first bedroom she came to. Flinging it open, she found Lily still asleep in her crib. From experience, never would she wake a sleeping infant. This was different. Pulling the baby into arms, she hurried into Dinah's room.

"Momma, are you gonna get the phone?" the little brunette asked, yawning and sliding out the bed. "Oh, it quit," she added when they both realized the ringing had stopped.

"Come with me, baby," Therese softly said and took the four-year-old's hand to lead her down the hall.

Halfway there, the blonde could hear a voice screaming on the answer. "Therese! Pick up! Please, pick up! They took him! They took him! PLEASE!" Stephanie's voice wailed. This was the phone call the note must have been referring to. She quickly jerked up the cordless phone and began attempting to soothe Stephanie without frightening her daughter.

"Momma, what's goin' on?" Dinah nervously asked, pulling her mother's hand.

"Steph, hold on," she ordered the hysterical woman. Having no free hand, Stephanie was privy to the conversation as the phone remained cradled between Therese's ear and shoulder.

"Sweetie, you remember when you got lost in the woods not long ago?" When the little girl nodded, she continued, "It seems Daddy and Uncle Shawn got lost together."

"They're together?" she asked, putting a finger in her mouth.

"Yes, baby."

"Then they're okay," she said, letting go of her mother's hand and starting off toward the living room.

"Dinah, come back," Therese commanded in her best 'mother' voice.

"I'm just going to watch…"

"You can in a minute. Just stay with me, okay?" The little brunette pouted but grabbed a handful of her mother's pajama pants. "Steph, I'm back."

"Kevin's gone too!"

"Yes," Therese answered, dragging her children with her to the front door to check the lock. The keypad on the wall beside the front door indicated that the security system had been disabled, not breached. Stephanie's voice was rising again in shrillness and volume but Therese blocked it out as she tried to reset the system in vain.

"Therese! Are you there?"

"Yes, dammit, I'm here! Just shut up and listen to me. Is your security system down?"

"I don't know," the other woman mumbled, taken aback by her friend's tone of voice and baffled by the question.

"Go check it," Therese ordered and went to find her cellphone, Dinah bumping along beside her. Stephanie babbled incessantly as she hurried to find the closest keypad. Just as the brunette answered in the affirmative, Therese was punching in a code to signal her work about her own system.

"Okay, call that number I gave you. It better still be on your refrigerator. It'll get one of Pendleton's subsidiaries out there immediately. Just tell them that your security system went down and that I said someone needs to get out there now. Mine's out too. I've gotta go because I've got to secure my place. Don't give me any lip!" Therese angrily replied to Stephanie's protest of hanging up. "I've got Dinah and Lily to worry about. I'll call you back soon." The blonde cut the phone off in the middle of Stephanie protesting again and tossed it aside with a sound of disgust.

She methodically checked each room, along with the locks on the doors and windows. Dinah was beginning to ask questions, such as why they were locking Daddy out. Therese had no answer and ignored the girl's questions, patting her on the head where she hung on her pajamas. Lily was waking up and demanding food.

"Dinah, you wanna watch TV in Momma and Daddy's bed?"

"Can I really?"

"Sure, baby," she answered and switched the television on, reluctant to leave her daughter alone but knowing she had to because she was about to take her into the kitchen where the note and the blood smear waited. By now, Lily was bawling and her formula hadn't even been warmed yet. After securing the patio door, she rooted around in the refrigerator until she found cold cereal for the baby. Between raising Evan as a young woman and now Dinah, she had found the ability to feed an infant with one arm, a skill most mothers eventually pick up. Tucking Lily in one arm, she prepared breakfast for the other one and delivered it only to return and rifle through the contents of her filing cabinet until she found the papers she needed.

Heading back to the bedroom to make important calls and keep an eye on both her daughters, she realized that the blood stain was still on the kitchen floor. When she dropped the last of the papertowels into the trash can, her emotions began to overwhelm her. Her house had been broken into and her husband taken. Her children could have easily been abducted as well. She cradled Lily to her chest and slid down the kitchen island to the floor and began to sob.

The knock at the door brought her out of her squalling. Nervously peeking out the window, she recognized Jamie Levenson, the head of Pendleton's Atlanta facility. Undoing the three locks, Therese jerked open the door. "I am _so _glad to see you."

"What's going on?" he asked, glancing around.

"Just a second…Dinah?" the blonde yelled.

"What, Momma?"

"Just checking," she hollered and then turned back to Jamie. "Someone broke into the house and took Kevin. I don't know how they did it because we all slept through it," she explained and led him into the kitchen to give him the note. "I found that this morning."

"Why haven't you called the police?" he asked, not even looking at the paper.

"Read the letter," she answered and shifted Lily to burp her.

"And what's the plan?"

"Right now, you get my security system up and running. I _will _kill anyone who touches my girls," she said, protectively cradling the infant to her. "Find out why the system wasn't set off if you can."

"Let me make some calls."

Therese nodded and left him in the kitchen. She needed to change into something more appropriate for the workers who would be milling about resetting the system. The woman rearranged some pillows on the bed beside Dinah and nestled Lily in them with a request for her older sister to watch her for a moment.

The little brunette wrinkled her nose and whined, "She stinks!"

With a quick peek in her diaper, Therese found the source of the smell. She was tired of changing diapers but it was all her today. Carrying the child into her nursery, she set to cleaning her baby. The purple room sported multiple Eeyore's in rare moments of happiness. Therese wanted to throw the dirty diaper at Eeyore and demand he go back to his pessimistic self to make her feel better. As she secured the last tab, Jamie came into the room holding his cellphone and a notepad.

"I think I know—"

"Momma! Momma!" Dinah yelled, running into the room and shoving her way past Levenson. "Something's wrong with Ruby!"

_Ruby! _She hadn't thought about the beagle since she rose that morning. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know," the little girl cried. "She won't wake up!"

"Here," Therese stated and handed Lily to Jamie, who held the poor child by her armpits away from his body. Dinah dragged her mother down the hallway and through Therese's bedroom and pointed out the window.

"I banged on the window but she won't move."

"Stay here," Therese ordered and unlocked the bedroom door that led out on a small porch. She dashed down the steps to the limp dog and dropped down beside her. Ruby's leg was at an unnatural angle and her chest was smeared with blood but she was still breathing. "Oh, baby," Therese muttered and ran a hand over the animal's head. The beagle opened her eyes and emitted a soft high-pitched whine.

The blonde rushed back inside where two faces gazed out the window at her. She pushed past them shouting out orders. "Dinah, pack a bag for staying at Aunt Sharon's for the day." She whipped an old blanket out of the closet and rushed back out the door. Dinah jerked it back open for her as she gently cradled the dog against her. "Dinah, I said 'Go pack'." The girl stuck her finger in her mouth and stumbled off. "Jamie, call the number on the refrigerator for Sharon Johnson. She's Kevin's aunt."

"What do you want me to tell her?" he asked, shifting Lily in his arms.

"Tell her that Kevin left early this morning…" She stopped to pull open the door of the SUV and situate Ruby in the floorboard, rubbing her furry head to soothe her. "…and, after he left, somebody hit my dog. She needs to come get the kids for the day 'cause I don't want Dinah to be home if I have to bring Ruby back today."

As she climbed into the vehicle and slammed the door shut, Jamie knocked on the window and she rolled it down. "What about me?" he asked, having awkwardly situated the baby into the crook of his arm.

"I don't know. Make up something," she said, waving him off and edging out of the driveway and through the gate before peeling off down the street.

TBC…


	4. I'm so sorry

**_Chapter IV: "I'm so sorry…"_**

Stephanie vaguely remembered Shawn leaving her bed early in the morning while it was still dark. She had glanced at the alarm clock and then turned over to go back to sleep, still heavily drowsy. Sometime after dawn, she rolled over and flung her arm across Shawn…but he wasn't there. Raising up, she noticed the bathroom was empty and a grin spread across her face—he was cooking her breakfast. She wondered if she should stay in bed and wait for him to bring it to her or go join him. Deciding to surprise him with a morning treat, she slipped out of bed, completely naked, and drew on her silk robe, rubbing her eyes vigorously to remove the groggy feeling. She silently padded down the hall and the stairs to the kitchen…but he wasn't there. Morning swim? No. Morning work-out? No. Morning run for a breakfast item? No, the car was still in the garage. She was completely baffled.

Shawn wasn't anywhere in the house or he would have answered her shouts. She headed back into the kitchen and went straight for the refrigerator where they kept a whiteboard for messages to each other. A note was left under a New Orleans Mardi Gras magnet that held a lot of memories. With a smile, Stephanie unfolded the letter, which she immediately dropped to the floor. _This can't be happening, _she thought, grabbing the counter to keep herself upright. Willing her legs to move, she fumbled for the phone and thanked God for speed dial as she unsuccessfully fought off the panic attack.

Therese didn't answer the phone before the answering machine picked up. Stephanie cut off the call and tried again. "You've reached the Nashes—Momma, Daddy, Lily, and DINAH! Please leave…a message at the…beep—BEEP!" Then the tone sounded. Apparently, her parents had allowed Dinah to redo the message and Stephanie would have laughed at the girl's 'beep' but now she couldn't think about anything other than getting Therese on the line. "Therese! Pick up! Please, pick up!" Her panic was truly setting in and she began screaming. "They took him! They took him! PLEASE!"

"Steph, shhh! Calm down, honey. It's gonna be alright. I know, I know, honey," Therese cooed after switching from the answering machine to receiver.

The hysterical woman couldn't stop herself. "I couldn't find Shawn and I found this note on the refrigerator. Somebody took him and-and…"

"Steph, hold on," Therese ordered. The woman suddenly stopped, appalled that Therese would cut her off like that. She listened to the blonde explain the situation to her daughter and get her settled. She loudly gasped when Therese told Dinah that Shawn _and _Kevin were "lost." Whoever had taken Shawn had taken Kevin too. She was to the point of impatience waiting for Therese to get back on the phone that she almost starting yelling at her again.

"Steph, I'm back," Therese finally said.

Even though she had heard the conversation, she had to confirm the truth of the situation. "Kevin's gone too!" Her friend answered in the affirmative but said nothing else. "What do you know? What are we going to do? What if they killed him!" Her voice hit a level of shrillness that she didn't mean to reach but, still, the woman on the other end said nothing. "Therese! Are you there?"

"Yes, dammit, I'm here! Just shut up and listen to me. Is your security system down?"

"I don't know."

"Go check it," Therese ordered.

Stephanie babbled incessantly about having to find Shawn now before something happened and how she wouldn't be able to handle it if something did. When she reached the keypad, the system didn't say it was disabled but she couldn't get it to reset. "Something's wrong with it." Therese began giving her directions and she listened intently until the blonde said she was going to hang up. "No, don't go. I need—" Stephanie protested.

"Don't give me any lip!" Therese interrupted in a tone the brunette hadn't heard in a long time. "I've got Dinah and Lily to worry about. I'll call you back soon."

"No, wait. You can't—" The phone was dead. Stephanie began to panic again and began gasping for air. When her head grew dizzy, she dropped to the floor and put her face between her knees. Scolding herself for acting stupid and wasting time when Shawn needed her, she began to gain control and slow her breathing. Pulling herself up by the doorframe in the hall, she made her way to the kitchen to find the number Therese had indicated. Drawing upon the strength that had kept her alive in the ring all these years, she dialed the number and, with a barely steady voice, repeated what the security specialist had told her to say.

Knowing the agency would arrive soon, she figured she should put something on instead of greeting them completely naked under her robe. As she undid the ties, she had a creepy feeling that whoever had taken Shawn might still be in her house or had left someone behind for her. She dashed for the bed and reached underneath for the hockey stick she had kept there. Knowing what Therese had been through with regards to guns and the memory of cold steel pressed to her own face, she had refused to keep one—besides, she had thought her house completely secure. Still, right after the incident with Colin Jenkins, she had gone to a hockey specialty store and bought the strongest stick they could get their hands on. If Therese could make it into such a deadly weapon, well, it'd work for her too.

When the bell rang for her gate, a now dressed Stephanie inched down the hall to the intercom with the hockey stick drawn back, ready to strike. When the woman identified herself as being with the security company, Stephanie pressed the button for the gate to open and then pulled the curtain beside the door aside to watch the van's approach. When the two people got out of the marked vehicle and rang her doorbell, she undid all the locks but the chain and asked to see their credentials. Satisfied with their IDs, she set the hockey stick aside, but within reach, and allowed them in.

Once inside, Stephanie pointed out the security pad and noted the system that she and Therese had chosen for the home—an upgrade from the expensive crap she had bought not long before they met. She casually picked up her weapon and scooted around them in the hallway. "You play hockey?" the guy asked.

"Uh, yeah, I, uh, play street hockey and I was on my way to play when I found out I couldn't reset the system," she lied and headed off towards the stairs to effectively end the conversation. Several months later, "Stephanie Plays Street Hockey?" would end up as the title of an article in one of the less reputable rap sheets.

Getting the system online to protect her and Shawn's home was a must before Stephanie could make her next step. Otherwise, she would have already been on a plane bound for Georgia. Pulling out the largest suitcase she owned, she started tossing in casual outfits with no idea what would happen after her arrival. Whether or not Therese wanted her there, she wasn't staying in her house alone. Plus, they couldn't coordinate a rescue with her in Stamford and Therese in Atlanta.

Sitting on the suitcase so that it would close enough to be zipped, her cellphone rang and she fell off the luggage and the bed in a mad scramble for it. "Hello?" she asked, pushing her hair out her face.

"Steph, are you alright?"

"Considering the circumstances, I think so. Do you have any news?"

"I don't know 'cause I'm not home right now," Therese angrily seethed and then began to explain about Ruby. She was currently at the vet's, pacing the waiting room as the doctors looked her over to determine the best course of action. "_Taking _my husband is one thing but when you try to _kill _my dog…" she trailed off, imagining what she would do to the idiots who dared mess with her family.

"I'm coming to Atlanta."

"What!" Therese exclaimed. "I can't babysit you _and _my girls _and _find Shawn and Kevin!" Stephanie must have made an unintentional noise as she bristled at the comment because the blonde quickly said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. It's just, there's a lot I have to do to keep us straight and I don't know what'll be happening and I can't guarantee you anything."

"I want to help and I can't do that just sitting around up here in Stamford with nothing to do. Whether you want me or not, I'm still coming."

Therese didn't want the VP underfoot but she couldn't blame the woman for wanting to be involved in the immediate search for her own husband. Instead of confirming her coming, she asked, "Were you left a letter?"

"Yeah, how'd do you know?"

"Because I got one. What did yours say?"

Stephanie had already carefully wrapped it up and put it in her purse, she retrieved it. "Okay, here it is. 'I'm so sorry…' and then there's these, um, e-ellipses. Anyhow, it keeps going. 'That I had to do this. I have him and, if you want him back alive, you will wait for me to contact you and you will say nothing to the police. By the way, you might want to phone Therese. She's waiting on you to call.' What about yours?"

Therese sighed. "About the same. Look, I gotta go," she said as the woman who had taken the dog approached her. "If you're coming, bring the note. Call me when you know what time your flight'll arrive."

The security agent snapped her phone shut and looked up at the vet's assistant. "Ruby's gonna be fine but…" Therese hated 'buts.' "We think she'll need a pin in her leg and her chest needs a few stitches, and we think two of her ribs are cracked."

Therese closed her eyes and rubbed a hand over her face. With a deep breath, she said, "Do whatever you have to do. Do you want me to pay up front?"

"No, Mrs. Nash. We know you're good for your word. We just want your permission to treat Ruby in any way we see fit and to keep her a couple of days to monitor her," the vet assistant explained. "We can't be sure yet of all the damage the car hitting her has done."

"Like I said, do whatever you need to do. I need to go now. You can reach me at any time on my cell."

"Ma'am, we'll take good care of Ruby," she said and placed a hand on Therese's arm.

"Thank you," the blonde replied and turned to go home. Climbing into the SUV, she put her head against the steering wheel to rest a moment, the first time she had been still all morning, before the storm broke again. At least she knew her dog was safe now. Ruby had been a surprise, part of a house-warming gift upon her and Kevin's return from their honeymoon. They were moving into a new house, one to accommodate both Evan and the little one that had hoped they had made during their trip to the Caribbean. Therese had barely set her luggage down when she was presented with a tiny beagle puppy whose ears and feet were bigger than her body. A ruby ring was attached to her collar and she began to be called by the precious stone as they tried to find a fitting name for the dog. When Kevin suggested that they officially name her that, Therese readily agreed. She was now leaving the puppy behind that Kevin had given her and she had to make sure that he would be greeted by her when Therese brought him home.

She slammed her fist on the steering wheel and cranked the car to leave, wishing she could form some sort of plan to get this problem resolved but there was absolutely no where to start without police involvement. If it was about murder, the abductors wouldn't have left a note. There was a point to his being taken and she could be assured they would keep him safe through whatever purpose it was…and that went for Shawn as well. They would have to wait until contact was made to do anything.

Therese had to park on the street for the van blocking the driveway. One of the workers recognized her as he pulled some tools out of the back and greeted her. She realized that she must be a mess. She smelled like dog and baby, and not the powdery scent. Her hair was escaping like mad from her ponytail and she was still in mismatched pajamas. Therese nodded and headed straight inside to find Jamie. He had a folder open on the countertop and was jotting down notes on a memo while on his phone. He set the cell down upon seeing her and she immediately asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Yeah, I think so," he replied, running his hand through his hair.

"Keep talking," she responded and headed down the hall. When she realized he hadn't followed, she backtracked. "Walk and talk."

"Well, the system on the fence was cut and—"

"Cut?" she asked, walking through the bedroom and into her bathroom. Jamie hesitated in the doorway and she poked her head out the bathroom door. "You just can't exactly cut that thing without being on the inside." When she disappeared back into the master bath and left the door a quarter of the way open, he took only a couple of steps inside and then debated on what to do. When she started the shower, he turned to go. "Keep talking," she called as she pulled her shirt over her head. Therese could care less at this point. When you have a whole medical crew staring up your private parts as you delivered a baby, not once but twice, modesty meant nothing anymore.

Jamie could see the shadow of her body as she undressed and he turned around to stare out into the yard. "Your perimeter system is separate from your home. It's on grids."

"Like I don't know that," she muttered before slipping into the shower.

"A grid was scrambled long enough to look like a blip on the monitors and then, on the other side, they cut the wires and retied them to reroute the sensors away from the gate." Therese then realized that the gate had been open for Jamie to come in, meaning the gate had been open for the abduction.

"You just can't look at my system and know about the grids and the separate systems. That's why I have two of them."

"Someone knew. They also found a way to scramble the home system so that it turned off but didn't feed back to the monitors as being disabled without a code."

"That's impossible!" she shouted, getting soap in her eyes and muttering curses. "That technology is too advanced for anyone to just know how to scramble it! I wouldn't have picked it otherwise!" she spluttered through the water.

"I'm sorry, Therese. That's the best explanation I have. We've got to replace the keypad and the grid that was cut. Anything else you want us to do?" Jamie asked, his eyes still averted from the bathroom door.

"I want a new system. If they got through this one, I want another one. And get a trace put on my line."

"I thought you didn't want to go through the police."

"Jamie," she stated firmly, sticking a sopping wet head out of the door, "I know you've got the equipment. I _know_ Aaron's plan for bumping the facility up to include investigative services. Just do it."

She disappeared back inside and Jamie sighed and replied, "I'll call the office now."

Finally smelling and looking like a normal human being, Therese decided it was best to check in with Sharon and the girls and ask Kevin's aunt to keep them for the night. She started to pick up the phone when it rang. Her heart jumped into her throat as she checked the callerID. It was a number she didn't recognize and she carefully lifted the receiver, as if handling the phone was like handling her husband's fate. "Hello?"

"Therese Blair Nash," the caller said, as if he hadn't heard from her in a long time. "How are you doing?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

"It doesn't work that way," he replied, his tone changing to a menacing growl. Therese instantly knew who she was dealing with—Kevin's abductor.

TBC…


	5. Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have Contact

_**Chapter V: Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have Contact**_

_"May I ask who's calling?"_

_"It doesn't work that way," he replied, his tone changing to a menacing growl. Therese instantly knew who she was dealing with—Kevin's abductor._

"Then how does it work?" she asked in the same tone.

"I'm the only who makes demands. Your husband's life hangs in the balance."

"Listen here, you bastard," she spat. "Cut to the chase and save everyone the trouble. I have something you want and it's not Kevin's life. Otherwise, you wouldn't have bothered to leave a note. What is it?"

The man laughed under his breath as if he was amused by her speech. "I didn't make this call to give you my demands. I wanted to remind you about not calling the police. I'll be in touch."

"No," she declared but the caller had already hung up. Therese slammed the receiver back onto the cradle and shouted "Damn!" at the top of her lungs. She whipped around, intent on doing something. What it was, she didn't know. She just had to be moving.

"Whoa, watch it," Jamie quietly said as she almost turned straight into him. "What did he say? Did you recognize his voice?"

Therese shook her head and answered, "It was distorted." She ran a hand through her wet hair before explaining the call. They both stood in the kitchen for a moment in silence and then Therese's head jerked up. She reached for the phone's base and pulled it towards her, peering at the LCD screen. She picked up the receiver and then dialed the number displayed. There was no answer. She tried again two more times but had the same result. For the second time, the phone was slammed down again. "Take this number and find out who it belongs to," she forcefully ordered.

Jamie started to stutter, "I-I-" The woman, almost half a foot taller than he, was scary when she was pissed.

"Call Aaron. He'll find out if you can't," she replied through tight lips and stalked off, needing to be another place right now.

Therese stalked downstairs to the in-law suite. She glanced around the main room that held an entertainment center, an airhockey table, and a pool table. She hadn't been down here in two weeks, not since Evan left for camp. He had spent so many years as a camper and now he was a counselor. He had called on the second night to tell her how impressed the kids were that he was going to UTC on a full scholarship. The teenager and Kevin wouldn't admit it but she knew there had been some "undue" influence there in getting him in—mainly Kevin's status. The university seemed to have overlooked the incident that led to a young Nash quitting the basketball team and then college.

Running a hand over the wooden edge of the pool table, she headed into Evan's room, wishing he was here to help her. Then again, she was glad that he was gone and didn't have to the worry about Kevin's abduction. Everything was in place there, so she checked their guestroom. Shawn and Stephanie stayed here every time they visited. It would need to be readied for Stephanie when she arrived.

* * *

His eyes finally came unglued but his vision swam. He heard a male voice say his wife's name and he tried to focus, remembering what had happened. He had heard the dog growling a couple of hours before dawn and what sounded like her pawing the kitchen's French doors to get out. Glancing over at Therese who was lightly snoring, he slid out of the bed to let Ruby out. Kevin knew his home forward and backward, even in the dark. He didn't bother turning on lights for fear of waking anyone up. As much as he loved his family, he just wanted a good night's sleep. 

By the time he reached the kitchen, the growling had stopped after a sharp 'yip' and he noticed that the door was slightly ajar. He didn't have a clue how she made it out but he knew the alarm would eventually sound if he didn't close the door. Coming around the kitchen island, bright stars flashed behind his eyes and he staggered, falling against the countertop. A cloth of a sickeningly sweet smell was pressed to his face. He lashed out and caught his attacker in the face that was followed by a low grunt. Kevin turned around but cloying scent stuck in his nostrils and he felt himself sag to the floor as the other person caught him. He would have been proud of the dog he had chosen as a house-warming gift if he had known that she was attempting to crawl across the lawn to follow him despite the chest wound and broken bone inflicted by the abductor to stop the dog before she started.

By the time he heard the man say, "I'll be in touch," Kevin finally had his vision back, even though his head was pounding. He had tried to stand up against the cold wall that he was leaned up against but his wrists and ankles were bound. The man that had been speaking came into Nash's view and crouched down to where he was eye level with the wrestler.

"Just got off the phone with the little wife," he said with a smirk. When Kevin recognized the man, he began to seethe to the point of having no reply to the man's comment. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I let you into our home," he finally responded, "and this is what you give us in return? When I get hold of you—" Kevin abruptly stopped and then laughed. "When _she _gets hold of you, she will tear you from limb to limb…and I won't stop her."

His abductor laughed and patted Nash on the knee. He jerked away but the man sneered at him before walking away. Kevin heard the fading jingle of a cell phone that grated on his nerves as the phone's owner refused to answer it.

* * *

The plane landed at sunset and Therese, true to her word, was waiting at the baggage claim. The blonde was still pissed about Stephanie insinuating herself into her 'investigation.' She had too much to do without the younger woman being underfoot. She paced the carousel, attempting to get a handle on her feelings toward Stephanie, when the woman in question came into view. The anger immediately melted as the two embraced, both severely in need of consolation. 

Stephanie wiped away tears that began to form and Therese took her by the shoulders. "You're here now. It's gonna be alright," she said and almost dissolved into tears herself.

"I thought this was all behind us," Stephanie said with wipe and a sniff.

"I know, we all did. Let's go home," she replied and blinked back more tears.

In the car on the interstate, the brunette watched the sun set over the skyline of Atlanta, completely silent. Therese was bitching at the traffic. If any of the four of them succumbed to road rage, she would be the one. She couldn't understand why it was so hard to pay attention and DRIVE! One drop of rain would make Atlanta drivers morons. This evening, according to her, they really had no excuse why they were morons.

"I think it's Bischoff," Stephanie abruptly announced.

"Put down the cell phone, you mor—what?" she yelled but stopped mid-curse.

"I've got it figured out. Eric Bischoff got out of jail three months ago, plenty of time for him to plot to get us back."

"Then why not get _us_?"

"Because he can't exactly do that," Stephanie replied in a tone that said, 'Don't you know.'

"Where is this coming from?"

"All of us have restraining orders against him but our husbands."

"Yeah, but kidnapping is a federal offense, restraining order or not," Therese replied, glancing over at Steph and then back at the road.

"He's an idiot," the brunette responded condescendingly. "He's not thinking like that."

"Trust me, I'm not ruling him out but we need to be thinking about who we pissed off."

"Or who Kevin and Shawn pissed off," Stephanie muttered.

"And who exactly is that _not_?" the blonde replied with a small laugh.

"I know, it's just like my situation was."

Therese sighed and shook her head, choosing to focus on what would happen when they got back to her house instead of the incapable idiots who were slowing down to gawk at a wreck on the side of the road. Pendleton knew about the situation and Therese talked him into having an overhaul done to Stephanie's security system while she was away. Her gate was opened by remote only and the abductor had found the frequency. Her house had at least three different systems to cover the different parts of the large home. The one was scrambled as only it was needed to get the job done but the other two worked the same way. To be on the safe side, new systems were being installed during what was hoped to be a short absence. For now, Aaron should have the results to whom the phone number belonged that the abductor had used. Hopefully, it would belong to the culprit himself.

Stephanie's cellphone rang and she pulled it out of her purse. They both glanced at the callerID. The number had the same area code as Therese's call from earlier. Stephanie could feel something was wrong and glanced up at her friend on the second ring.

"Don't answer it yet," she ordered, laying on the horn and whipping over one lane. Gesturing rudely at another driver, she jerked the vehicle into the next lane and squealed onto the shoulder of the exit.

"You're gonna get us killed," Stephanie yelled right before the car came to a stop.

"Atlanta traffic doesn't stand a chance against a New Yorker. Just answer the phone."

"Hello," she tentatively said, leaning over to where Therese could hear the call.

"Hello there, princess," a distorted male voice said mockingly. Stephanie physically bristled at the endearment. Only Shawn was allowed to call her that.

"What do you want?"

"How much are you offering?" he asked lewdly. The brunette made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat and the man laughed. "You've not called the police have you?"

"No, I _can_ read."

"You didn't wait to be contacted, so I don't know about that."

"What exactly does that mean?" she snapped.

"I called your home phone and you didn't answer," he answered nonchalantly.

"The note didn't say which phone."

He chuckled, more to himself than to her, and then replied, "Touché."

"Can we cut to the chase?"

"That is the chase, just a check-in. Sit tight, doll, and I'll let you know _exactly _what I want."

"So, I'm just supposed to just suffer in silence—" Stephanie stopped, realizing the caller had hung up immediately after his last sentence.

"Call the number back," Therese ordered.

"What?"

"Call the number back now and see if he answers," the blonde instructed.

"And then what?"

"Just do it or give me the phone." Stephanie made that same disgusted noise in her throat and dialed the number. It rang until it cut itself off. "Do it again," Therese continued to order and Stephanie didn't argue, hitting redial. When the same thing happened, she automatically did it again.

On the fourth try, an automated voice immediately came on. "The wireless customer you are trying to reach is not available."

"He's turned the phone off," Therese muttered and pulled on to the exit to find a way back to the Interstate.

Stephanie reached for the bottle of water in her travel bag and tried to twist the cap off but her fingers were shaking too badly. She exasperatedly ran a hand through her hair and then took several deep breaths to try again. Finally, she was able to get the cap off to gulp water down her dry throat. Glancing over at Therese who obviously in deep thought as she chewed the corner of her mouth, Stephanie wished she had that much control over herself as all the terrible scenarios of this situation played itself out in her mind.

TBC…

**

* * *

**

**Author's Notes: **As to Steph playing hockey, I thought her using that as a cover-up for creeping around her house with a hockey stick would be beautiful irony when it showed up on a less than reputable newsboard. I just find it hilarious that one of those workers would actually believe her and then report to someone (who believed it as well)for it to be posted on the Net. And we all know it happens often.


	6. Snumslumber Parties

_**Chapter VI: Snum-slumber Parties**_

When Shawn Michaels came to, he was alone in a barely lit room. There was cold concrete below him and he stayed lying down, hoping the coolness would ease the throbbing in his head. He found he was bound but not gagged as tried to move his limbs. Hoping against hope, he tried with all his might to pull out of the zip ties that held his arms and legs. He only succeeded in digging the plastic into his flesh but tried harder again. When the blood slowly ran down his fingers, he finally ceased, realizing it was pointless. His anger over the previous night was the only thing keeping the pain from registering in his brain.

Stephanie had been having trouble sleeping lately and had refused any medication for fear of it interfering with conception or harming the baby if she already was pregnant. Shawn finally convinced her to consult a pharmacist since she refused to see a physician about it, more or less denying that she was dealing with another bout of insomnia. The sleeplessness came and went during stressful periods and this was one of them, according to her. But he reminded her that the less sleep she got, the more stressful she got, and the more it could hinder their plans. That got her attention.

Last night was the first night she had taken sleeping pills in several years and it knocked her out like a light…enough to keep her from hearing the break-in and the subsequent struggle. Shawn had heard a thumping on the first floor in the middle of the night and slipped out of bed to check, wishing they had a cat or dog on which to blame noises. At the foot of the stairs, he realized that the sound had immediately stopped when his feet touched the landing. Creeping down to the bottom step, he strained to hear anything else and considered going back upstairs since the security company hadn't called to report any change in the system. As he turned to go, the blow across his back knocked him to the stairs. Hearing that the strike aimed for his head had missed, the attacker reared back for another but Shawn slipped down the steps, tripping up the man, who then fell forward on him. Unable to see in the darkness, the wrestler struggled with the body on him and found his way out from under the abductor. Shawn was about to pin him but his attacker swung out again and, this time, caught him in the head.

The headache had finally subsided when the man who put him there appeared. Shawn tried to find words but the red anger clouding his eyes sent him into a silent rage. He had to focus on what his abductor held out in front of him to see. It was a cellphone, which began to ring. Shawn saw his wife's number appear and struggled once again against the ties but they cut deep enough to hurt and he relaxed against them.

"As you can see, she's just fine."

"And you won't be when I get loose," Shawn seethed.

"That's something I'd like to see," he replied above the phone's incessant ringing.

"How'd you do any of this without Steph knowing?"

"Because I'm that damn good," he said with a laugh. "That _damn good_, get it?" ?" Shawn only glared at him, at lost for what to say. He didn't know this man and sure as hell didn't know why he was here or why the idiot was stealing his most hated enemy's line. The idiot, as Shawn had deemed him,glanced at the phone as it stopped ringing for the second time. "I don't plan on hurting her or you…or the Nashes." When Michaels' eyes widened, the man laughed again. "As long as your wife and Therese do exactly as I say, I won't hurt you, Stephanie, your best friend, or his children." Shawn didn't notice that Therese had been left out of the equation. The phone started ringing for the third time and he held it out for Shawn to see again. "That may be the last time you have anything to do with your wife for awhile." His attacker rose from his squatted position and exited the room, turning off his phone as he went and ignoring the obscenities Shawn was yelling at him.

* * *

"Sharon, Kevin's aunt, you've met her before right?" Therese asked as she punched the new code into the keypad in her foyer. Instead of reminding her how much time she and Mrs. Johnson had spent readying the Nashes' home for Therese and her early arrival, Stephanie nodded and she continued, "She's fixing us supper tonight. We'll go over there as soon as I check the messages and whenever you're ready." There was only one message on the answering machine and it was a request from Pendleton to call him. "This is Nash. Whatcha got for me?" 

"The number is registered to a pre-paid cellphone bought in Berry Hill, Tennessee," Aaron stated.

"Where?"

"Just outside of Nashville."

"Don't you have to have a name to get those kinds of phones?" Therese asked as Stephanie maneuvered around to face her, the look on the brunette's face questioning.

"Yeah but it won't do us any good. An address isn't required and the guy signed with the name 'John Smith,'" Pendleton answered.

"You're kidding me? That's like the most generic name in creation."

"I know," Aaron sighed.

"I've got another number for you. Stephanie got the same kind of call," Therese added and gave him the number from the call.

"You won't believe this," he laughed. "The guy must have bought two pre-paid cellphones and that's the other one."

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

"You didn't give me a chance, trigger."

"Sorry," Therese muttered.

"What are _you _going do now?"

"I'm gonna have supper with my children. After that," she sighed and rubbed her forehead, "I don't know."

"As soon as I can tomorrow, I'll see what I can do about getting anymore info on this John Smith, okay?" Aaron replied as soothingly as possible.

"Thanks," she replied and barely got the phone cut off before Stephanie was already asking about the call.

"We got anything?" the VP hopefully asked.

"Sorta. Talk on the way? I'm starving."

"Yeah, let's go."

Despite Dinah calling her "Aunt" Sharon, she was Kevin's aunt and had lived in Atlanta most of her life. She and her husband couldn't have children and they had adopted Lily and Dinah as if they were their own grandchildren and treated them as such. If the girls couldn't have their own grandparents, Sharon and Joe were the best alternative. They were the epitome of the stereotypical grandparents as well. Sharon was a boisterous, pudgy, gray-haired woman that always smelled like sugar cookies. Joe was skinnier but strong, smelling of his tobacco pipe, and always swung 'his girl' up into a hug when she came to visit.

Sharon had barely been able to hug Stephanie when she came in the door before Dinah had flung herself into the woman's arms. "Aunt Stephie! Aunt Stephie! Come see Lily. She's much bigger than when you were here the last time." The little brunette made for the playpen that the infant was sleeping in and almost toppled over inside trying to get to her.

"Hold on. I'm coming," Stephanie said, following after her. She stroked Dinah's hair and then squatted down beside her. "It looks like she's sleeping. Maybe we shouldn't bother her now. But, you're right, she has really grown. And you have too. In a couple of years, you'll be as tall as you're daddy."

"No, I won't," the little girl giggled and stuck her finger in her mouth.

"Are you hungry?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah," she excitedly answered and grabbed the woman's hand, tugging her into the kitchen.

Dinah insisted on sitting beside her other 'aunt' throughout the meal and Therese wondered about how messed up that child would be when she was old enough to exactly understand her relationship to the Michaelses and Johnsons. Joe teased her about him being replaced in her heart but the little girl insisted that she had enough room for all of them, even her smelly baby sister.

Therese and Stephanie began clearing away the dishes after supper and Sharon welcomed the help. Joe retired to the back porch to smoke his pipe and Dinah followed, having recently become fascinated with the phenomena of smoke. It was the opening for which Sharon had been looking. "Dinah said something about Kevin and Shawn being lost. What's that about?" she asked nonchalantly, as if asking about the weather.

Stephanie sent Therese a nervous glance but the blonde quickly covered. "She overheard us arguing and I told Kevin that he and Shawn could just get lost for all I care. I guess she thought that happened when she woke up and her father was gone."

Sharon looked over at Stephanie, the look on the older woman's face showing her concern about the next question she wanted to ask. Therese noticed and said, "That's why she's here. I need some company right now."

"I didn't know you were having problems," Sharon cooed. "Send him to me and I'll set him straight," she firmly stated and slapped a wooden ladle in her palm.

"I don't think I'll be needing a ladle," Therese replied.

"A frying pan is what really works the best," she responded with a half smile. "Just ask your Uncle Joe." Therese loved it when Sharon talked as if she had always been family but, right now, she was making up marital problems to cover for their crises. The blonde sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Do you need to talk, sugar? I'm here…oh, sorry, that's what this lovely lady is for." Sharon sucked in her breath and then added, "I'm sure she's not moving in, so you know you can come to me any time?" Therese nodded and hugged the grandmotherly woman.

The trio finished the dishes and Therese went to find her eldest daughter. "You ready to go home, baby?" she asked, inhaling the sweet scent of the pipe.

"But Aunt Sharon said we're having a snumber party."

Therese had to think about it a minute and then it registered what she was saying. "A slumber party, huh?"

"That's what I said."

"And who's idea was this?"

"Hers," the little girl truthfully answered. A silent Joe nodded in agreement. "I've never had a snum—slumber party."

"Well, you behave, okay?"

"Okay," Dinah replied and hugged her mother, who was holding her arms out.

Therese left the little brunette with her Uncle Joe, who wished her a good night, to collect Stephanie and be on their way. While she was on the porch, Lily had wakened and Stephanie was now feeding her, a glowing look on her face. She sent up a silent prayer over the child that her husband would come back safe and that they would have one of their own soon.

When the infant had finished, Therese reached to burp her but Stephanie waved her off and placed a washcloth over her shoulder. Her mother finally got to her after the long day, pressing a soft kiss to her tender head before passing her off to Sharon, who was insisting they be off to have some time for themselves for the evening.

Back at the Nash residence, the two women danced around each other to prepare for bed, although neither had plans for doing so. Therese was itching to get on the firm's network and do some research. Stephanie was completely lost as to what she should do now but she knew she couldn't sleep and really didn't want to in case something came up.

With nothing else to do, Therese hit the Internet and the firm's network. Stephanie paced through the office a couple of times before the blonde finally confronted her. "Can't sleep, huh?"

"Don't really want to," the brunette anxiously sighed.

"If you don't sleep, you won't be any good for when there _is _something to do."

"I couldn't sleep if I wanted to."

"Come with me," Therese said and headed for her bathroom. She pulled out the medicine cabinet and handed Stephanie a bottle of sleeping pills.

Stephanie looked them over and then said, "You've not been taking these, have you?"

"Yeah, I'm still on a weird schedule and it lets me get some sleep when Kevin's home."

"You can't breastfeed and take these at the same time."

"Yeah, I know that," Therese replied wearily.

Stephanie stared at her a moment and then it hit. "Oh…why didn't you tell me?"

"I…don't know. I really didn't want to tell everyone that I can't be a real mother," the blonde replied, folding her arms over her chest as if to hide her inadequacy.

"But that's not true. You—"

"I've already had this talk with Kevin. I guess I haven't told you because I'm okay with it now."

Stephanie stood there for a moment and then looked back up at her friend, not truly believing Therese's excuse. "When did I get lumped into everyone?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I, just, well…"

"I was just teasing you. I've got some with me," Stephanie said and handed the bottle back to Therese. "Maybe you should take one."

"Nah, I've got things to do."

"If you don't sleep, you won't be any good when there really is something to do," Stephanie mocked.

"You're not gonna leave me alone until I do, right?"

"Exactly."

"I won't leave you alone until you take yours either."

"Fine," the shorter woman replied. "You first."

Therese rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen with the bottle in hand. While Stephanie was retrieving hers, Therese poured a glass of water and downed half of it as Stephanie came in. "I'll get you a glass," the blonde stated, wiping her mouth.

"I know where they are," Stephanie said, pouring her own cup. She popped a half of a pill, remembering how much it had knocked her out the previous night.

"I'm gonna get back on the network until the pill kicks in," Therese stated. "Why don't you go on to bed?"

A yawn surprised her and the brunette lumbered off with a nod. The older woman settled back at her computer as she heard Stephanie's feet pad down the stairs. The firm's network provided her absolutely nothing so far and there were a few more searches she wanted to perform. After that, she was going to find out everything she could possibly know about Berry Hill, Tennessee.

For Stephanie, the sleeping pill wasn't long in taking effect and she was soon in a deep sleep. However, not long before four in the morning, she jerked awake from a dream. At first, it was like she was wrapped in a warm cocoon, a soft, dreamy feel filling her entire body. She was stroking her large stomach, swollen with their first child, but then the labor pains started. As she pushed herself out of the cocoon in a state of panic, she found herself in a cemetery staring down into an open grave that held the body of her lifeless husband. She stumbled backwards to run away but fell and a griping pain seized her abdomen. Stephanie had shot bolt upright out of the bed and stumbled for the bathroom to splash cold water on her face.

Needing someone to talk to, she heaved herself up the steps despite her quick breaths from the dream. The light was on in Therese's office but she continued by until the blonde's form caught her eye. The agent was at her desk, the laptop open, and her hand snaked out to pick up the cup of coffee without her eyes leaving the screen. When she realized it was empty, she pushed herself up from the heavy leather chair and then noticed Stephanie standing in the doorway.

"Either you're losing your touch or you are completely absorbed in something. Oh, and, by the way," she casually began the next clause with the flip of hand, "I noticed you faked taking that pill."

"I knew you wouldn't go to bed if I didn't and there was nothing you could do to help me."

"Ah, so you _were_ absorbed in something?"

"I was just combing the database's files one last time for anything that would help," the blonde replied as if she always did this at four in the morning.

"And?" Stephanie expectantly prodded.

"Absolutely nothing," Therese replied and the two women sighed in tandem.

"I guess you should probably be going to bed then."

"Well, I was just on my way to get more coffee…"

"I will dog you until you go to bed. Don't you have to be at work in five hours?"

A yawn caught Therese off-guard and her eyes watered from forcing herself to stay awake. "Yeah, I guess I better go."

"No faking it this time?"

"Only if you promise to tell me what brought you all the way up here," the blonde said, stroking the other woman's hair after noticing her swollen eyes.

"I don't wanna bother you now. I didn't know you were still up. You gotta get some sleep," Stephanie replied, changing her mind after thinking she would only be waking Therese up for a few minutes.

"When Dinah has a bad dream, she always hops in bed with me. Before she even gets done telling me about it, she's asleep."

"How did you know it was a nightmare?"

"I _am _a mom now. Come on, it's a huge bed. It swallows you whole. You'll love it."

It had a been a long time since Stephanie had slept in her mother's bed after a bad dream and the warm memory propelled her down the hall towards the master bedroom.

TBC…

**

* * *

Author's Notes:** I know this was a slow chapter but stick around because we start pointing fingers in the next one. 


	7. Lack of Presence

_**Chapter VII: Lack of Presence**_

Stephanie and Therese picked up the girls from Sharon's and Joe's to relieve them of the dustdevil-in-training and her baby sister. With Aunt 'Stephie''s presence, Ruby and her father was far from Dinah's mind. When it was time for her nap, her "aunt" quickly agreed to take one with her. With two down, Therese spent the afternoon watching Lilly while away the time obsessed with her toys in her playpen. It was enough for the agent to sort through everything in their filing cabinets in hopes of finding some hint that would help. When Sleeping Beauty One and Two rose, Therese traded off a napping Lilly to take one of her own. She had gotten so little sleep the night before that she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer.

Therese was in the middle of a dream she wouldn't share with anyone but Kevin when a little whirlwind pounced on her bed. "Momma! I'm hungry!"

Stephanie was right behind her. "Sorry, I was trying to keep her occupied 'til you woke up," she apologized.

"That's alright," the blonde yawned and stretched, pulling her daughter to her. "Momma's tired. Do you wanna order pizza tonight?" McDonald's had worked for Evan, pizza worked for Dinah. God's knows what would end up placating Lily—probably an entire buffet at Shoney's.

"I'll call it in," Stephanie offered and left but Dinah stayed snuggled up to her mother. The Executive Vice President was pained to see such a picture and longed even more for a family of her own. It had been so easy to pretend Lily was hers as she watched over her earlier in the evening.

After placing the order, Stephanie rifled through her purse to retrieve her credit card. She pulled out her PalmPilot to check the balance but a reminder popped up. It was regarding Shawn's flight out tonight for RAW. She would have to cancel it, which then led her to realize that he and Kevin would be missed at the show tomorrow night. "Um, Therese, I think we have a problem."

"Oh, god, what?" Therese gasped, racing from the living room.

"No, no, no, it's not like that. The guys are gonna be missed at RAW tomorrow. You got any plans?"

"Hmmm…"

"They've got the flu," Stephanie piped up.

"In July?"

"You've never been sick in the summer?"

"I don't get sick," the blonde replied with a confused look.

"I've been sick in the summer and you feel much worse than in the winter."

"They can have the stomach flu or something—they got it from each other."

"Stomach flu lasts about two days. If we don't find them by then…" Stephanie trailed off but then shook her head and continued. "We'll have to come up with another excuse. Flu can last as long as ten days or more sometimes and _then _it can develop into pneumonia or bronchitis. We'll be able to keep them covered," she excitedly finished, as if making her husband sick was the coolest thing in the world.

"Please don't let it take that long," Therese whispered a prayer.

"Besides," the brunette added, "I'm in charge. If I choose to give them vacation, I'll do it and suspend anyone who questions me."

"But that's not like you."

"Wait,don't they have some important match next week at Vengeance with Triple H?" the blonde suddenly asked, feeling guilty for not keeping up with what exactly was going on in wrestling. Besides, Kevin had been a little tight-lipped about what was going since she had been sent into early labor months ago and she hadn't watched RAW without Evan at home.

"We'll get them back before then…I hope."

"Me too," Therese replied under her breath. "Well, I guess we shouldn't call them both in at the same time."

"I'm not afraid of Hunter. I'll call him tomorrow and deal with him but, right now, I severely doubt he'll be answering his phone. Call and leave a message because you know what he'll have to say about Kevin being out."

"Any you think I'm afraid of Hunter?" Therese scoffed. "I've been itching to get my hands on him."

"I've heard you give him a piece of your mind before but, right now, you don't need his crap," Stephanie replied, the tone in her voice apologetic for her ex-husband's behavior.

"But it'll be a good to blow off steam," she laughed in reply and cracked her knuckles. "If I get through to him, I will, and, if I don't, I'll settle for a _nice_ message." She found her cellphone and started to dial when the 'The Imperial March' began to play from the phone. When _Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith _came out, Evan was going through a rebellious period and, one day out of frustration, Therese declared him Darth Evil and it seemed to stick. Jokingly, she programmed the march as his ringtone.

"Hey, baby! How's it going?"

"Was I this bad when I was kid?" Evan whined.

"You've asked that every year the past four years."

"Yeah, but, one of these years, I hope you'll tell me 'no,'" he sighed with frustration.

"Don't count on it."

"Kevin around?"

"No, he's already gone on to Baltimore," she replied smoothly.

"Oh, okay," Evan responded, obviously let down. Despite their 'in-law' status, the two might as well have been father and son. "Well, I won't bother him."

"Yeah, he's going through a lot with Hunter," she half-lied. He _had been _going through a lot of the general manager but it was currently happening at the moment.

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, he's been able to keep it off television. I may go on the road with him just to keep his blood pressure down," she explained, hoping the fabrication would keep his suspicions down

"Okay, well," he dejectedly replied. "I won't bother you again until next Sunday then."

"Babe, you can call me any time you need me. So, honestly, how's it _really _going?" Evan talked a little bit about the kids in his group and the ones in his room—he had an unusually bad group this year—before he asked to talk to Dinah and the call ended. Her little brother could be smart when he wasn't acting like a teenager and she was proud of herself for getting through the conversation without giving anything away. She hated the deception but Evan would probably insist on quitting camp to help and there was nothing he could do. Even if he did stay after learning the truth, he would worry about the man who had become sort of a surrogate father to him.

* * *

The next major obstacle for them to overcome arrived Monday morning. To keep appearances up and suspicions from growing worse, Therese chose to go in to work. She had no idea how much time she would need to take off when the right contact was made, so she couldn't miss work now. Beyond Jamie, no one else knew of the predicament and it needed to stay that way. Another extended vacation would not jive with her fellow employees. Plus, she would have greater access to more databases at work. Stephanie agreed to take the girls before Therese could even think of asking her. She could tell the other woman desperately needed something to do to take her mind of their situation. 

Pendleton's company frowned upon the use of term 'bodyguard' because their agents did more than just guard a body. They kept all that was around their protectee secure. The job was not simply being a large, buff guy looming over a person. Pendleton had instilled in Therese the importance of the physical and the intellectual aspects and values of the position. She taught the same to her trainees. Target practice and physical conditioning were also a part of her job description. This morning, she was timing them on the obstacle course in the back lot of the center. The agent would have preferred for the day to involve target practice because she was itching to put a bullet hole in something. After lunch, the group was turned over for a classroom session. The 'boot camp' lasted twelve weeks and this set of recruits were only halfway through.

Therese spent the afternoon faking the writing of reports for the morning's training session, even though she was usually at home with her babies at this point. The job was really only part-time. Physical and weapon training in the morning with the occasional class interspersed was her general work week. She was searching secure databases for any more information on John Smith, the phone numbers, and Berry Hill, Tennessee. Still nothing. John Smith was Hannibal's supposed real name on the series 'The A-Team' but she wasn't finding any connections between the show and the abduction. The chosen cell numbers seemed to have no significance. She then began a query on Nashville, Tennessee—the next closest town. There was so much general information on Nashville that she gave up and decided to work on that at home. For now, she needed specifics—especially on what had been going on in the life of Dylan Bergeron since she last saw him from the other side of gun's barrel.

Dylan was the ijit responsible for getting a bullet put through her on a detail that he let get out of hand. The shot had broken her arm, tearing through the bone, but that was thankfully the worst of it. Bergeron had been fired and she never bothered to find out anything else about him until about three months ago when he reapplied to Pendleton's firm. Therese flat out refused but Aaron had agreed to rehire him only if he went through training again. He impressed upon Therese to forgive and forget, especially because it had been eight years since the incident. When she muttered a trite 'you're forgiven,' Aaron strongly hinted that she should invite him over for dinner to show her forgiveness. The meal was probably the most tense one she had ever spent but it was finally over. Sensing how uncomfortable the two agents were, Kevin did his best to smooth it over by showing the guy around their home and playing a short game on one-on-one basketball with Evan as the severely biased referee. Dylan was now training under her but they said as little as possible to each other despite Kevin's mitigating attempts.

Bergeron was intelligent as well as physically capable of the job. That was not to mention that he was an extremely handsome man. Tall, dark, and sexy with a wrestler's body. Of course, she wouldn't have classified him as that until after her WWE assignment. He and Therese had dated a couple of times but she ended it quickly when he had said a few disparaging remarks about Evan. Dylan then gave her the cold shoulder and, not long after, she was on the same assignment as he and she ended up with a bullet wound while he went physically unscathed. The investigation turned up no malicious intent on Dylan's part. The situation had gone beyond his control and Therese couldn't right it. The protestors broke through and, the next thing she knew, she was waking up in the hospital with an incredible pain in her upper arm.

Dylan's lack of attendance on Friday and today prompted this query. He hadn't called in before the weekend but she didn't know this because she had taken a personal day to be with Kevin since there were no house shows for the weekend. When she inquired of the administrative assistant about any calls from him, she immediately jumped to conclusions when she learned he hadn't called. Bergeron was in on the abduction and she said as much to Jamie right after lunch. The director then produced a message from Sonya, the assistant, saying he was absent because he had taken to bed with a cold and had called in shortly after Therese had asked Sonya. Jamie chastised Therese for maligning his character and she stalked off to her office, not entirely sure that Bergeron was indeed _un_involved. Now that he was back in her life, he could easily be exacting revenge for her technically getting him fired from such a prestigious job.

The most she had turned up on the ex-agent was how he had spent eight years in odd security jobs. He was first a mall security guard for a couple of years in Sacramento, California, before moving to Anaheim, California, for a few years as a limo driver. The next two years were spent working in a poor quality bodyguard service in Chattanooga, Tennessee, only two hours from the Nashes' home. Tennessee caught her attention as Chattanooga and Nashville were not that far apart. But what really threw her for a loop was his next city of residence—Seattle, Washington, the past and current domicile of Eric Bischoff. Bergeron was there for almost a year, working in another security firm that was less reputable, before moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Tennessee, Seattle, and Atlanta all in a row didn't sit well with her. A further investigation revealed that he had a sister in Sacramento, whom he had moved with to Anaheim. His Tennessee address was shared by a woman that she could find no familial relationship for him. Assuming the woman was now an ex-girlfriend, Therese made a note to call her under the pretense of checking Dylan's references. Seattle was still questionable. He enrolled in some criminal classes in a university there but, otherwise, she couldn't find a rationale for him being there.

While she simply wanted to security agent, she had picked up on many skills working for Pendleton that would make her a good investigator and that included interrogation of sources. She was good at poker simply because she could bluff well and she was quick to jump to conclusions, making it easier for her to anticipate her next set of questions. If Dylan came in tomorrow, they would have a 'conversation.' If he didn't, connections and favors would be called in and the manhunt would begin.

Therese checked her watch and realized that Stephanie would be there at any moment. The VP dropped her off at work and took the girls with her, their mother assumed to the park or the mall. The agent began packing up her work, erasing her searches and history in the computer. The company had excellent computer security as well. Putting a few files in her briefcase to take home, she sensed the presence in the doorway and looked up to find the beautiful brunette watching her. "Just a second, Steph," she said, clicking the latches on the case closed and shuffling more files. Stephanie settled into one of the leather chairs situated in front of the desk, knowing that a second could mean awhile. "Where's the girls?"

"Sonya hijacked them. I thought it was okay to leave them with her since Dinah whipped out of her dolls and began gibbering on to her about things I didn't quite understand. Apparently, Sonya spoke her language."

"Sonya has four girls of her own that are in their teens. She's got this 'girl' thing down. Me, I was in the yard swinging from trees. I wasn't into dolls," Therese replied with a shrug.

Therese stood up and reached for briefcase when her business phone rang. Glancing at the callerID, the number registered as private and her body began to tingle with foreboding. The number was not patched through by Sonya, which meant someone had her direct line that she only gave to family members. A body passing by her door caught her attention and she called out, "Nguyen!" The guy back-pedaled and she yelled, "Get Jamie to trace this call!" He began to form the word 'what' but she screamed, "Jamie! Call! Trace! MOVE!" To add emphasis to her words, she threw her pencil at him. While she was an excellent markswoman, the blonde had no aim with anything other than a gun. The man was already gone when the pencil bounced off one of the glass panels surrounding her door.

The phone was in the middle of its third ring and Therese's hand hovered over the receiver.

TBC…


	8. Istanbul Was Constantinople

_**Chapter VIII: Istanbul was Once Constantinople**_

Voicemail picked up on the fifth ring and she wanted to give Dave Nguyen enough time to alert Levenson. After the fourth one, she picked up, trying to remember how long she had to stay on the phone to trace it. "Thank you for calling Pendleton Enterprises. Join our family, where our home is a secure home. This is Therese Blair Nash. How may I help you?" She said the extended greeting as slow as possible to draw out the call as much as possible.

"'Our home is a secure home,'" the distorted voice mocked. _Apparently not since my home was broken into, _she thought in reply.

She recognized the voice but stalled. "That's right, sir. We specialize in state-of-the-art secure—"

"Not that state-of-the-art since I broke in," he interrupted and laughed. She had no response. "You don't find that funny?"

"I'm sorry, endangering my family and kidnapping my husband isn't exactly hilarious." Stephanie shot up from her chair, her hand still at her throat from when Therese had yelled at Nguyen. She shot over to the oak door and slammed it shut.

"No, you wouldn't think that," he derisively laughed.

"Why? Because I'm human being and you're not?"

"Oh, I'm a human being, depraved, maybe, but a human being. Why do you think I'm doing this?"

"Is Kevin and Shawn alright?" She only asked to keep the caller on the line longer but she knew that he would keep them alive as a bargaining tool. How damaged they would be was another matter.

"Still breathing."

Therese clinched her fist and then slammed it down on her desk. "What the hell do you want?" she growled.

"I guess it's time to get down to business. If you can find Nash and Michaels, you can have them," he replied, ignoring her anger.

"Yeah, terribly easy."

"You've got clues. You'll figure it out, you're smart…sort of."

"You bastard," she bit out, gritting her teeth.

"That's become your favorite word for me," he stated with what felt like a sneer.

"This is insane," she replied through an exasperated breath, slumping over. She then sat up straighter as she noticed a faint strain of music in the background.

"Not as much as you think. I know exactly how much money is in your bank account. I want eighty percent of what is in that."

"Geez, thanks for the generosity," Therese muttered, straining to hear the words to the song that sounded so familiar.

"Wait, I'm not done. I know about the McMahon-Michaels' accounts too. Note the plural on that. I want ninety percent of hers. Transfer those figures into a new account. When you find Nash and Michaels, we'll make the transfer into my numbered account for the exchange."

"Why the difference?"

"Because your brats have no fault at all besides having their mother's genes," the man answered as if his insults were praises.

"Don't you bring my girls into this!" When the caller only laughed, Therese continued, "How do I know you're not bluffing? How do I know that you really know those figures?"

"I know the account balances, Blair. Don't try me." He could hear her gritting her teeth over the phone. "Does it matter? You forget I hold all the cards, baby."

"Well, someone neglected to tell you that twos and one-eyed jacks are wild," she replied and slammed down the phone, caring less about how much more time she needed to hold the call for tracing.

"Did you just hang up on him?" Stephanie exclaimed, leaning across the desk.

Therese stared blindly at her and then realized that she had. "Damn," she muttered to herself, realizing what she had done. Hopefully, her action wouldn't impact their spouses' fates. She dropped to her leather chair and began scribbling out the transcript of the conversation before she lost anything.

Stephanie slammed her hands down on the desk in front of Therese and yelled, "What did he say?"

"Don't yell at me!"

"I asked you twice already," the brunette replied accusingly.

Therese stared at her for a moment and read aloud the transcript so far. She continued to read slowly as she scribbled as much as possible.

"Clues?" Stephanie finally asked.

"Yeah…" the blonde trailed off and then realized the song that had been playing was only instrumental. There had been no words but she knew the tune. "What's this song?" she asked and then began humming it.

"What does that have to do with this?"

"It was playing in the background," Therese replied and continued with her 'hmm—hmmm…'

Stephanie gave her a confused look but began humming with her as she too recognized the tune. "It's—it's, aw, god, I know that!"

"Istanbul was once Constantinople; now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople," Jamie sang under his breath as he entered the doorway. "That what you're looking for?"

"Exactly," Therese shouted and turned to her computer, pulling up the Web. As Levenson continued to talk, she typed in a search for the song lyrics.

"You're humming 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople)' and you get a call from Istanbul?" Jamie asked.

"Come again?" the woman queried, looking up at him.

He laid the printout down on her desk in front of her appointment book. Stephanie leaned over it to see as Therese pulled it towards her. "The Four Lads released, Irving Berlin sang it, and They Might Be Giants did it to."

"Istanbul…Turkey?" she asked, looking up at him, ignoring his blatant show of knowledge.

"Do you know of another one?" Jamie muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Does this have to do with Kevin?"

"Yes," both women answered forcefully. He took a step back, holding his arms up defensively. Neither one of them gave him a second look.

"Istanbul…Turkey…this song…What the hell?" Therese whispered to herself.

"Is the song some type of clue?" Stephanie asked.

"Alright," the agent began in her normal voice again. "He calls from Istanbul and he plays the song during the call…I guess I'm going to Turkey with an assload of cash."

"_We're _going," Stephanie corrected.

Therese opened her mouth to argue but Stephanie sent her that McMahon glare. At least the trip would be less lonely. Less stressful was debatable. "Why the hell _Turkey_?" the blonde muttered, turning back to her computer.

"Well, it's friendly to American citizens but not the American government," Jamie spoke and continued to explain, "Tracks of unspoiled land with police that are either understaffed or don't care. Easy to run or easy to dump a body." Both women stared at him dumbfounded, doing their best to ignore his last comment. "My grandfather from my mother's side is from Istanbul and now lives in Antalya." Both of them whispered, 'oh.'

Therese then took a mental note to do a search query on Jamie Levenson. He was the only one who had a Turkish connection so far who knew her husband. What his motive was, she couldn't say. "Was the city all you got?"

"No. I've got a hotel name and the direct line to the room he was in. In other words, I know the room number he called from," he answered, pointing at a line of the paper. Traces weren't something Therese was trained to read. Maybe she would make a point of learning at a later date whether or not she would use the skill again, just to make her feel better.

Therese tapped a pen to her chin as she read over the lyrics to "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" that she had found. If there was a connection, it wasn't jumping out at her. She hit print to take it with her. "Alright," she began, still tapping the pen on her face, "Steph, book a flight to Istanbul. Then get us that room or one close to it in this hotel. I'll start digging around for any more info I can get before we leave."

"Therese, you might want to turn this over to the police of the FBI," Levenson said in a motherly tone as he said down on the corner of her desk.

"And have them kill my husband? Are you out of your freaking mind!"

"Therese, they're trained to do this," he answered and she wanted to scream at him for the way he was saying her name, like she was a recalcitrant child.

"And if this idiot finds out, my babies are without a father."

"And if this goes wrong, your girls are without both of their parents."

"I can handle this," Therese adamantly stated, trying to end the conversation.

"The last time you handled something personally, you got shot…twice."

"Now wait, Mr. Levenson," Stephanie butted in. She had been trying to argue against him but couldn't get a word in edgewise until Therese bristled at his comment. "She saved my life. She's entirely capable of doing this." Six years ago, that comment would never have been made by that woman.

Therese was finding sense in his words but she was scared of what happened if authorities were brought in. "Alright, Jamie. How about this? When I find them, I'll call the authorities in then."

"You better hope Turkish police will be willing to attack an American citizen to rescue two other American citizens."

"What if he's not a citizen?"

"You got me there," he conceded and then took a seat in the only chair left. He leaned forward and reached across the desk to take her hand. "Listen to me, Therese, I care about you and I care about your family. I'll cover for you while you're gone. Please, don't do anything stupid." With that, he left the two women to begin planning this expedition.

"Has he got something for you?" Stephanie whispered after he had gone.

"No," she replied, waving her off. "Let's go home and do this. I don't want anyone privy to any information that could spoil this." She picked up her suitcase and added another mental note regarding Jamie Levenson. Maybe he did have a motive. Therese didn't think herself so wonderful that Jamie would remove Kevin from the picture so he could step in his place to comfort the grieving widow. But was he doing this to get Kevin out of the way? Stephanie saw something that Therese had noticed herself. Levenson went out of his way for the security agent. No matter what the situation, he was the first to offer help, quick to let her off from work, and went over and above to help with Kevin and Shawn's disappearance. But why would he take Shawn as well? Was that another cover? Who would think Jamie Levenson abducted Michaels when he had no connection to the man? That would still leave an accomplice. Dylan Bergeron would be the perfect accomplice. Jamie agreed with Pendleton in hiring the ex-agent and now he was waving off the man's absence as if it was nothing and trying to quell Therese's worries that Dylan was involved. No would really think Dylan was so childish as to come after her for something that he did to himself during his tenure at the company. He was too easy of a suspect.

It was all too frustrating. Walking in the door that morning, Therese Nash had only one potential suspect—Eric Bischoff. Now she had Dylan Bergeron and Jamie Levenson. And those two were only from _her _personal life. They were not even talking about Stephanie's professional and personal lives. She hadn't gotten to that list yet.

TBC…


	9. Chicks in Prison

_**Chapter IX: Chicks in Prison**_

Shawn was completely oblivious to the time of day or night. He finally fell asleep when he couldn't hold his eyes open anymore and his arms finally went numb. There had been a brief glimpse of daylight when he was dragged in a drug-induced stupor to a van. He drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like forever in the darkened cargo hold of the vehicle but he didn't recall being moved from the van to the room he was in now. The creak of a metal door and a shout jerked him awake. He had been drifting in and out sleep, not sure if his dreams were real. He wasn't positive about the grating noise of the door but the recognition of the man's voice that he heard pulled him out of the stupor. He was slumped over to his side and struggled to right himself, blinking to see those who had entered the once dim room that was now flooded with light.

His eyes were still trying to focus when a loud 'oof!' was emitted from the body that dropped beside him. "Well, buddy, here we are again—in trouble together," the other person said.

"Kevin," Shawn sighed, trying to look up at him. Even though he had assumed that this didn't involve Kevin, he wasn't surprised. And neither was Kevin. The big man had a slight arrogant streak and had assumed that he was taken to get back at Therese or Shawn. Recognizing his attacker, he figured this was about Therese but hoped the abductor was only a mercenary. While he was comforted by being with his best friend, a nervous feeling began to develop in his gut—Therese was definitely the target and, from Shawn's presence, so was Stephanie.

The lights dimmed again as the door banged shut without another word from those who had shoved the big man in. Kevin shouted a curse at the door that involved something about an object being shoved in a very inappropriate place. "Nice to know you're still feeling fine," Shawn said with a laugh. God, it was good to have his best friend there.

"Fine? If that's what you call a splitting headache, numb hands, and aching arms, then, yeah, I'm fine."

"What did we do _this _time?" Shawn asked with a slight smirk.

"I don't know but I think it involves Steph and Therese," Kevin replied with concern.

"And you don't think we were taken for our own punishment?"

"No because I _know _who kidnapped me," Nash replied. The surprised look on Shawn's face evoked the answer from the question he couldn't articulate.

"Anything else you want to share about your wife?" Michaels asked, finally finding the strength to care about working his arms back to life.

"Oh, that's none of your business," Kevin chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Did you see the other guy? The one that took me?" Kevin shook his head in response."I feel like I should know him but I don't," Shawn continued, shaking his head and trying to roll his shoulders.

"Me too," Kevin added, imitating his friend's movements.

"You know where we're at? One minute I was in my hallway and, the next, I'm in something like a basement. The guy drugs me, shoves me a van, and, voila," Shawn explained, shrugging his shoulders as if to indicate the cold room they were in.

"I think we're in some warehouse somewhere. That igit had me in some dark basement or something too." Kevin's abductor had cut the ties on his feet, held a gun to his back, and escorted him up a set of dark stairs. Once at the top, he was blindfolded and pushed to what he assumed was a van since he fit in comfortably. The barrel of the gun never left his back. The blindfold wasn't tied all that tight and had slightly slipped down over one eye. He strained to see outside the windows but they were tinted and his view obstructed. A glance of the grey warehouse was caught before he was dragged out of the van by both men, jerked into the building, and manhandled into Shawn's 'holding cell.' "From the looks of it, I think we're in a run-down carpet mill and this," he gestured with his shoulders as well, "is the office." After a couple of moments, Kevin added, "I've got to piss like a racehorse. That's not to mention, I'm starving. They fed you yet?"

Shawn could only shake his head and laugh. Nash was taking this better than he was, or humor was his only defense.

* * *

Stephanie scrutinized another outfit before carefully folding it and packing it in her suitcase. She couldn't wear just anything, rendering many of outfits useless for this trip. The VP had smartly checked with a travel agent to learn that the majority of Turkey wouldn't accept anything above the knee or the elbow. While she didn't agree, she was at least respectful of their traditions. Trying to figure how much to pack was the next problem. A couple of days could be too optimistic and a week just depressed her. 

"That's pretty," Dinah announced, rolling off the pillow on the bed and fingering a brilliant flower-print sundress.

"Thank you, sweetheart," she replied, stroking the girl's hair and imagining her own child helping her pack one day.

"Are you going to get my daddy and Uncle Shawn?"

Stephanie paused for a moment, unsure what to say. They had told her nothing other than what she had overheard and put together. "Yes, sweetie. They're waiting on me and your momma."

"Can I come? If I ask Momma, she'll say 'no' but, if I ask you," the little girl explained with a wink.

Wow, she was smarter than Stephanie realized. "Well, I'm gonna have to side with your momma on this. Besides, you wouldn't want to go. Airplanes are stuffy and the ride is so long."

"Like when we go to Six Flags?"

Stephanie chuckled. Six Flags was about thirty minutes from the Nashes' home. "Worse."

Dinah made a disgusting noise in the back of her throat. "Well, if you just bring my daddy home, I guess it'll be okay."

Children understood more than adults gave them credit for. "No problem, sweetheart."

"Momma says I can't go up and down the stairs without a grown-up but I know I can. I'm getting big but Momma says it doesn't matter and I don't want to get in trouble. Will you hold my hand?" she asked, holding out a chubby arm.

Stephanie took Dinah's hand, her heart breaking over the want of her own child. The two found Therese still working on her computer, Lily cradled in her lap with a bottle in the infant's mouth. The older daughter raised up on her tiptoes to kiss the baby and then streaked out of the office into her own room, intent on the Lord knew what. "I'll never understand her," her mother muttered, never looking away from the screen. "Unlike her father. They've got this weird father-daughter bond."

"She's taking this well."

"For all she knows, he's away on the road _'rasslin'_."

"I think she knows more than we assume," Stephanie replied and looked over Therese's shoulder at the computer screen. "I thought you said you didn't think Bischoff was involved."

"That doesn't mean I didn't call in any favors to stake out his house."

"And?"

"Nothing. He hasn't moved beyond going to the grocery store yesterday. He bought wine, which I find highly suspicious," Therese explained, glancing over her shoulder at Stephanie, who raised her eyebrow in questions. "Either it's a celebratory bottle or he found himself a chick in prison."

"I thought he was married."

"She filed for divorce about a year into his sentence."

"Why do you know all of this?" the brunette suspiciously asked.

"It got around RAW and Kevin mentioned it. That's all! _I'm _not stalking him." Therese shifted Lily to burp her and Stephanie immediately reached for her, carefully placing the towel on her shoulder beforehand.

"You come up with anything from my side of this?" Steph asked, thumping Lily's back.

"Not really."

They had talked on Sunday after the girls were down for the night. Stephanie always had a list a mile long of those who would like to hurt her. It came with the business. It was the same for Shawn and Kevin, but they were a-whole-nother ball game. In regards to the dark-haired VP, Triple H and Vince McMahon were top of the list. Triple H hadn't gotten over the sting of being suspended last year and he made it very clear any time she showed up at RAW. No threats on her life or Shawn's had been made, even though Hunter had given Shawn a good beating the next week after he, read that 'he and his buddies', had thrashed Kevin the night Lily was born. The threats may have been not been said and then kept for this moment. Even if Hunter himself hadn't gotten his hands dirty, which was very much like him, he could have hired just about anyone to do it. Taking Kevin would be a little taste of revenge on his ex-best friend who had once taken his title.

Then there was Vince McMahon, who made threats so often that nobody took him seriously. Speaking of cover-ups, that would be a good one. He never made good on his threats, so why would anyone suspect him of doing so now? He had been so angry at the board for voting Stephanie in the position of Executive Vice President of Television Production. The things he had said to the board members… If he was going to attack someone, it seemed logical that he would start with the members who had voted for her. It was _their _fault and then he could replace them with someone who held more of his predilections. _Or _go to the root of the source—his own daughter. However, he hadn't acted as angry towards her as much as he had when she hired Captain America. But, then again, if he wasn't threatening her life, who would suspect him? But where did Therese and Kevin fit in? Kevin had once embarrassed the hell out of him by jumping ship to WCW upon its premiere and Therese had kicked his ass the one night he ousted Stephanie from her office during the Captain America incident.

Recently, Stephanie had stood her ground to the Rock and embarrassed him enough to have him stalk out of the ring, swearing to never step foot in a WWE ring again. Vince went off on her and managed to smooth over the situation and put the WWE and the Rock back on a tentative relationship. Angle and Jericho were always at odds with the foremost diva of wrestling. Angle was going psycho on women and she put a quick end to it by signing some embarrassing matches for him. Jericho was just Jericho. It seemed that every time she showed up, he focused solely on making her life miserable. But there seemed to be no particular incident to push him over the line. But still, Kevin was not a factor in the relationship beyond Jericho's inability to get past him to Shawn and a smattering of incidents from their early days together in WCW.

Stephanie couldn't recall firing anyone that took it bitterly, or enough to do something about it. However, she had already called the office and asked that a list of fired employees be sent by fax. The document hadn't arrived by Monday evening and Stephanie was beginning to threaten to fire someone.

"The fax hasn't come?" the VP asked as she continued to pat Lily's back.

"Nope and I checked the machine again an hour ago and it's working fine."

"So, it could be anybody that we've talked about?"

"Could be," Therese sighed.

"Any chance Colin Jenkins escaped from prison?" the brunette asked. "He's got the best motive for abducting them to get back at us if anybody does." At his name, Stephanie always shivered and Therese's thigh seemed to involuntarily convulse. Yes, the man hired by Bischoff to stalk and physically and emotionally threaten Stephanie would be the first suspect. The man who then freaked out and put two holes in Therese would only heighten that suspicion.

"You know both of us are on automatic notice if his status changes. He didn't get parole last month or we would have gotten a letter. If he escaped, the FBI or somebody like that would be staking out our houses _after _notifying us."

"Did Sharon ask any questions about taking the girls?" Stephanie asked, still pacing and patting the baby. Finally, a burp that could rival one of the guys was elicited from Lily.

"No," Therese said through a giggle at the sound coming from her child, "but I could feel that look of pity over the phone. I think _she _thinks that our marriage isn't going so well. Some days I think Kevin tried her patience so much as a kid, that she's grateful for a well-behaved niece, even if her grand-niece isn't always so."

"Are the girls packed?"

"_I'm_ not even ready," the blonde answered, not looking up from the computer and hitting print.

"You've not packed yet?" Stephanie asked with incredulity.

"I lose all network connections once we step foot in that airport," Therese gestured at the monitor and then waved a dismissive hand. "I can throw a suitcase together faster than you can choose an outfit for the day."

Stephanie glared at her. "I've been getting better."

"If you ever have kids, wardrobe will be the last thing on your mind," she replied, picking at her sweatpants and over-sized t-shirt that had a drying patch of drool on the shoulder.

"I'll put her," Stephanie looked down at a sleeping Lily with a loving gaze, "to bed so _you _can pack." Therese nodded, rose from the leather chair, and kissed in the infant on the forehead. She just had to bring Kevin home safe, if not for her, for Lily and Dinah. Stephanie was thinking the same thing of getting Shawn returned safe. It's not that she just wanted children, she wanted them with _Shawn_.

TBC…


	10. No Regrets?

**_Chapter X: No Regrets?_**

The plane taxied on the runway for take-off and Stephanie shifted in her seat again. She was used to long plane rides but once a year was about all she could take. Therese was already absorbed in a book, something she considered odd for the woman. Casually leaning forward, the brunette noticed it was an English to Turkish language book. At least, one of them would be able to know what was going on. During the preparations, she was beginning to feel like a fifth wheel. She couldn't help with the background researches and she was completely at a loss as to determining who was behind this with what information they did have. She felt slightly important in booking their travel arrangements but the plans for their stay were out of her hands. As much as she hated to admit it, this was Therese's element and she had to defer to her. At least when they were working together on the stalker case, they were in her element and she controlled more of the plans then than now.

As funny as it sounded, things were easier then. Too many lives were being negatively affected by this abduction. Six years ago, it was only her life in danger, not ones she loved or _their_ loved ones. Her emotional turmoil was much different. Then it was dealing with her father's empty threats, a battle with Sable, and the fight to keep control of SmackDown! Now, only one thing mattered and that was more important than anything related to wrestling—and that was Shawn Michaels. It seemed the same with Therese as well. The blonde had the ability to take up and go on assignment, only leaving behind her brother. Her worry was never for her life, not one's who was close to her. Although, the agent probably would beg to differ about that fact near the end of that particular assignment. Now, the life of her children's father could be in danger. Therese could survive without him financially—Stephanie would see to that—but the Nash family would be much worse off emotionally for it. They would never be the same again.

Thinking of who Therese was leaving behind this time, Stephanie recalled how hard it had been to watch the blonde leave her daughters in the care of Sharon and Joe. Therese had one last errand to run before they finally left—sign Dinah up for ballet classes. When Stephanie questioned why the former tomboy would sign her daughter up for dance instead of some sport, Therese rolled her eyes and muttered something about Kevin being adamant that _his _little girl wouldn't be getting her face messed up by playing hockey. "Long fight, long story," she said as she signed the check and handed it over to the receptionist. "Unfortunately for Kevin, it ain't the end of the fight either." Stephanie had two replies but she kept them to herself—her New Yorker friend used 'ain't' and it would be _fortunate _if Kevin were home to finish that fight.

They had gone straight from the dance studio to the Johnsons. Stephanie hung back and watched the mother kiss her babies 'goodbye'. Sharon walked her to the door where the brunette waited and began to whisper to her where she thought Stephanie wouldn't hear even though she caught some snippets.

"Honey…some advice…show him _you're _his wife, his _lover_…dress like a woman…not a new mother…some make-up and do your hair again…"

"I'll call every day to talk to Dinah so she doesn't think I've left her and to see if there's anything you need," Therese replied to Sharon's pearls of wisdom.

"Take care, sugah," Joe called from where he was tickling Lily's feet, making her emit cackles of laughter that caused every one in the room to giggle with the girl's belly laughs. Therese hugged the elderly woman and left after one last look of longing at her children.

"Well, it's definite—she thinks your marriage is falling apart," Stephanie commented.

"Yeah, all that about cleaning myself up, she has no idea how hard I worked my ass off to get rid of that pregnancy fat. When other mothers would be sleeping, I was working out. Besides, she hardly sees me when Kevin's home because we're always with the girls or too busy with…" Therese stopped suddenly and emended the rest of her response. "…with each other."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Nah, she just cares about her nephew and her grand-nieces. They might as well be her own grandchildren. I've been without family so long that I don't care if she gets nosy on occasion. I'm just happy she doesn't know what's going on and only thinks Kevin and I are having marital problems."

The conversation set Stephanie's mind in motion and she wondered how little of Shawn she would see if they…_when _they had children. She knew Kevin's and Therese's marriage couldn't be any stronger but that didn't mean hers and Shawn's wouldn't change. She rubbed her forehead as if she could rub away the concern. Therese glanced up from her language book and noticed. "You okay? I got some Tylenol if you want it."

"I'll be fine," the brunette replied and dropped her hand to her lap. "I'm just worried about all this."

"I know it's like telling the sun not to rise but don't worry and get some sleep. There's no reason to get worried." Stephanie shot her an angry glance that said, 'Too late for that that.' Therese held her hands up and added, "No reason to get _really _worried."

Stephanie had brought a book to read even though she figured she wouldn't be able to concentrate on the story. Instead, she pulled out a magazine she had purchased in the airport. Flipping through the glossy pages, she casually noticed an advertisement for a collection of Sandra Bullock movies which included the _Miss Congeniality _movies. The ad sparked a question that Stephanie had wanted to ask Therese out of curiosity but was afraid it would make her feel guilty since choosing to come out of the field. "'Rese, why didn't you go into the FBI? There's not much difference in what you did before you married Kevin and what they do."

Therese placed a marker in her book and then set it in her lap. "What makes you ask that?"

Stephanie wasn't about to explain that the thought was now initiated by the fact Therese once wore similar suits and clunky shoes like Sandra Bullock's character in the movie and, now, the blonde had one of her black suits on again. This time, at least, her shirt was a brilliant lime. "I just thought about when you saved me from Jenkins—"

"You always give me too much credit for that," Therese replied, waving her off.

"Anyhow, it's not much of a leap from what you did and to what the FBI does."

"Let's just say that I didn't have the same priorities as they did."

"Well, now you're gonna have to explain."

Therese sighed over the life she could have had, even though she didn't regret the life she had now and probably preferred. However, she would never know. "I went through all their tests and made it in. Problem came during initial orientation. Basically, I could be transferred anywhere at any time. Not to mention, I could be sent off for months at a time at a moment's notice. In other words, single parents need not apply. I couldn't do that to Evan at such a young age—or, really, at any age," she added the last more to herself.

"Oh," Stephanie replied quietly.

"I guess with the exception of the McMahon-Helmsley era and the end of your run as SmackDown!'s GM, I guess you're doing what you always wanted?"

The VP gave Therese a few short nods. "Yeah. But it seems that wherever I am, I'm happy. From the time I start modeling wrestling t-shirts at twelve years old until I graduated from high school, I wanted to be a star. I remember wanting _my _face on a shirt. I just knew that the day I turned sixteen, Dad would let me be on TV and I wouldn't have to be just a, um, pretty face to close deals."

"I don't know if it's fortunately or unfortunately that I know that _that _didn't happen," Therese replied, glancing away.

"Yeah, he shipped me off to college as soon as I graduated. Said I didn't know enough to even begin to understand the business."

"Why not a business degree or advertising or something in sports?"

"Those were my electives. To him, communications covered the ability to present myself on TV and in public relations. If I couldn't communicate, then what good was advertising? As to the business side, that's what a diverse board is for. As long as you can follow the financials, you didn't need to know how to prepare them," Stephanie explained evenly, not even a hint of her anger at her father showing.

"So what happened to this need to be a star?"

"There was just too much to the business. After graduation, I just wanted to know everything about the business. I thought that one day Dad would give me and Shane the business. Man, was I wrong," Stephanie muttered the last to herself. "I loved my father so much that I wanted to be like him. I would make him proud one day and be everything he wanted in a daughter. Yeah, well, I need not remind you of what happened. I try hard to forget the mess I made out of wrestling by leaving Andrew for Hunter. I'll never forget what my father did to me on national TV with the Mr. America fiasco." The brunette stopped for a moment and looked out the window as their altitude continued to grow. "I've forgiven him for what he did. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore or that I will trust him ever again. But I don't have that little ball of hate sitting in the pit of my stomach anymore."

"No regrets?"

"Only about Hunter."

"Really?" Therese asked, twisting around in her seat.

"Okay, so I lied. I regret what I did to everyone else when I was with him. I know I had that brief moment of regret over our divorce, but Shawn took care of that. Shawn…" She whispered his name with loving care. "I miss him so much already."

"I know. It'll be over with soon and they'll both be back home where they belong." Therese reached over and squeezed Stephanie's hand. The brunette blinked back a tear and smiled.

* * *

"Now what?" Stephanie asked as they cleared the last checkpoint of Istanbul's airport. 

"Stay with the luggage or go on to our hotel while I canvas the airport." Therese bluntly replied.

"I thought I was going to help."

_I said no such thing, _the agent thought, hoping she wouldn't regret her decision to allow Stephanie to come. She brought with her pictures of their husbands and of the only people who had the time to abduct them or make a trip out of the country. After a few carefully placed phone calls, it seemed that possibility only lay with Dylan Bergeron and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. It didn't mean any of the others weren't involved and it was long shot but it was better than not having one at all. "I've only got a copy of one photo of the each of them. Who's gonna watch the luggage?"

"We can carry our own luggage and I show that picture I have of the four of us," Stephanie proposed.

"They didn't come here of their own free will…if they came at all," Therese replied, referring to the two other pictures she had.

"But if they did, Kevin stands out in a crowd no matter how he got here. One of the employees is bound to remember him."

They had run every scenario possible: the abductors had made heavy threats against Kevin and Shawn and fabricated passports for them; the culprits had done the same or drugged the two men and got them on a private flight; Kevin and Shawn weren't even in Turkey but this was just another hoop to jump through to find them and only the abductor/s had made the trip to Istanbul. Therese was hoping to get a head start by canvassing the airport and maybe determining the identity or location of the kidnappers before they made contact again…if they made contact again. The next clue to finding their husbands may only lie with a contact there that the abductors had planned on Therese or Stephanie finding.

Therese glanced around, trying to come up an alternative. "Okay," she replied a little condescendingly. "What are you gonna do when you get someone who doesn't speak English?"

"Call you and you can tell me what to say," Stephanie replied as if she should have already known the answer.

"What? You got a global phone too?"

"Yeah, while you were upgrading yours, I did mine as well."

Therese replied only with an angry sigh. "Alright, if they came in on a commercial airline, they had to come this way. It doesn't matter at the moment if they left again. You start with lost luggage and work as much as you can with airport employees. You'll probably get more people who speak English that way. I'll take baggage claim, the porters…We can hit the taxis together later. Check in with me in an hour," Therese concluded, wiggling her cell phone. "Good luck." Stephanie nodded to wish her the same.

The security agent carefully arranged her luggage, pulled out her photos, and canvassed the baggage claim area. She methodically planned her attack and started with the porters. Unless their targets were average tippers, these would be the men who remembered them the most. She approached a porter and asked slowly in Turkish, "Have you seen these men?" She held out a picture of Shawn and Kevin together and the page with both Bergeron and Triple H. The man replied in the negative. She thanked him and moved on to someone else.

The hour was over so fast that she just knew that Stephanie had found someone who could help when the phone rang. "What'd you get?" she breathlessly asked.

"Absolutely nothing," Stephanie sighed.

"They why are you calling?"

"It's been an hour!"

"Really?" Therese asked, glancing at her watch.

"Yeah, I've hit about everything back here but no one knows anything."

"Okay," the blonde sighed. "Finish the rest, start on the car rentals, and call me in an hour if I don't meet you somewhere around there in an hour."

The agent clipped her phone shut and strode over to the last carousel where she could see an employee. She held out the pictures and asked the same question for what felt like the two thousandth time. The man's dark brown eyes lit up and he smiled broadly. Therese could feel the butterflies starting to grow in her stomach. He pointed at Triple H's picture and said several sentences in what she assumed was Turkish even though she only caught a few disparate words that made no sense. Her legs began to tingle in anticipation.

TBC…


	11. Way Too Easy

**_Chapter XI: Way Too Easy_**

Therese cut off the enthusiastic man standing beside the last carousel. He gestured at Triple H's picture again with a smile and she worked hard to remember the phrases she had learned on the plane. "Did you see this man in the airport?" The employee's thick eyebrows knitted together and he nodded his head. It took her a moment to remember that a side to side shake meant 'yes' and a nod up and down meant 'no.' It was opposite of to what she was accustomed. "Did you see this man?" she repeated in English but then caught herself and said it in Turkish.

He said a few more things she didn't understand but then he pointed at the picture again and said, "Trip-le H. W-W-F. Tel-e-vis-ion." He smiled again and made a square with his hands to indicate the TV set.

"Yeah, I'm a big fan too," she muttered to herself. All that excitement over nothing. Apparently wrestling had made it everywhere on the face of the planet.

* * *

Stephanie gave the man at the counter a weary smile and scribbled her autograph on a blank piece of paper. She had two people recognize _her _before she got any information out of them. However, that information was only that they knew the two men from wrestling as well. Outside of those two conversations, which were luckily in English, no one could help her. 

She was tired, her back hurt, her feet hurt, and her head was beginning to hurt. She rested for a moment in one of the plastic chairs around baggage claim. She was so disappointed but what could she really expect? They'd walk in and the first person they talked to know would know their husbands or their abductors? And know where to find them as well? She felt stupid for expecting to find anything at this point. If these two men who had taken Kevin and Shawn were agile enough to take both of them without setting off the alarms and were intelligent enough to get them out of the country, then they were definitely capable of covering their tracks. What if she and Therese couldn't pick up their trail? No, if these men were desperate enough to take the two wrestlers and demand a large ransom, they wouldn't let either her or Therese get too far without steering them in the right direction…or so she hoped.

Well, she was burning daylight. The VP rose from her seat and began heading for the last of the car rental counters. After talking with two more people, she noticed Therese out of the corner of her eye at one of the foreign currency exchanges. Glancing at her watch, she noticed that it was almost time to call her anyhow and decided to hook up with the woman now.

"Therese!" she called as the blonde turned away from the booth and tucked Turkish lire into her pocket. Therese jerked her head and strode over to Stephanie.

"Went ahead and changed some of my money. We've got to find food soon. I'm starving."

"Me too."

"Maybe we should finish the rest of these," Therese waved at the remaining counters, "find some supper and then hit the taxi drivers."

"Rese, are we gonna have to do this when the shift changes?" Stephanie asked with sagging shoulders.

"I don't think so. Most international flights from the US arrive in the afternoon to evening and this place shuts down fairly early compared to Hartsfield. I assume if they came in, this is about what time they came in."

"You really have this planned out."

"Yeah, well, we're sorta in my element," Therese dismissed the compliment with a sheepish grin.

Stephanie started to reply but stopped with a blank on her face as her eyes focused behind Therese. "Um, don't look now, but there's a huge stormcloud coming this way."

The blonde glanced over her shoulder to see a tall, thick man coming in their direction. He wore a charcoal gray suit with a silver handkerchief in the breast pocket. He had dark eyes and thick moustache on a face that registered anger. Then she noticed two other men, larger than the suavely dressed first one out in front of them.

"Wha' do we do?" the VP asked, her voice a little shaky. "Run?"

"No, we've done nothing wrong," Therese staunchly stated but then added apprehensively, "I think."

"You think!"

A hand was put on Therese's arm and the man called her to his attention with a term equivalent to 'ma'am."

"Yes?" she answered in Turkish.

"What are you two women doing?" he asked in the same language.

"I am looking for a man."

He then began a string of Turkish she didn't understand while he gestured wildly to the automatic sliding glass doors that were the main exit to the airport. If he would just slow down, she might have been able to understand and calm that panic that was beginning to rise in her legs. The two burly men that came with him grabbed Therese and Stephanie respectively by the arm, which set the blonde off. No one touched her that she did not know or give permission to do so. Touch was too intimate to her. She jerked away, took a step toward the man who had spoken to her, and asked, "What are you doing? Repeat slow, please."

Stephanie stared at back of her for a moment and then interrupted, "What _is _going on? What did he say?"

"I don't know," Therese muttered back over her shoulder. "Give me—"

"You spent all that time on the plane reading that book and you don't _know_," Stephanie exclaimed.

"The flight was only like eight hours. What did you expect?"

"I—"

"Good, ladies, you speak English." Both of the women turned around to stare at him in surprise, jaws dropped. "I am the director of this airport. I have command of ten different languages, including English."

"And you just assumed we spoke Turkish?" Therese haughtily replied.

"Well, we _are_ in Turkey and you _were_ harassing my employees in Turkish. I'm very surprised you Americans would even try to speak anything other than English."

"Harassing? We were doing no such thing. Do you really have such a command of the English language?" the blonde sarcastically asked.

"Therese!" Stephanie quietly scolded.

"I _could _speak to you in Turkish only and put you back on a plane to the United States since you couldn't respond and fight the action. Maybe you would like to cooperate and speak to me civilly," the man arrogantly responded.

"If we talk to you, you'll just kick us out. Why not go ahead and do it?"

"Therese!" This time Stephanie was much louder.

"You may have a visa but do not think that I do not have the authority to hold you and have that visa revoked," he replied, his voice growing darker.

"Fine," Therese snarled, "we'll talk."

"This way, ladies," he said coolly, now that they were cooperating. He gestured toward a hall off the side and started in that direction.

"Can we run now?" Stephanie whispered.

"Not without his thugs throwing us down and dragging us back," she replied, gesturing to the two large men following them as they trailed behind the director.

The women were led into a large office with several filing cabinets, a flat-panel computer screen on the cherry wood desk, and a wall of monitors. Therese glanced over them over and scoffed, "We've been out there for two hours and you just now haul us in?"

"Therese, what are you doing?" Stephanie asked through clenched teeth.

"I had been taking care of other business until thirty minutes ago," he replied politely and gestured to the two seats in front of the desk. "Ahmet Bengisu at your service. And your name is…"

Therese tossed her hair back. "Therese Blair Nash and this is my friend, Stephanie McMahon-Michaels." She noticed the corner of his mouth twitch and wondered what exactly he was hiding.

"And why were you harass—excuse me," Bengisu said and then corrected himself, "why were speaking with all of my employees?"

"Have you seen any of these men in the past four or five days?" Therese asked, pushing the pictures across the desk.

"It's not that easy," he replied without looking at them.

"You tell me if you've seen them and I'll tell you why I'm looking for them."

Bengisu picked up the pictures and perused them, the corner of his mouth twitching again. "I've not seen them in my airport. _Now, _why are looking for them?"'

"My ex-husband owes me _a lot _of money in alimony and that's not counting the child support. The rest of those men are his consorts and, the last I heard, he was on a plane here with at least one of them," Therese smoothly lied, proud of the story she had just concocted.

"Ex-husband?" he asked and she noticed that damnable twitch.

"I've been doing all the talking. What is it that you're not telling me?" the blonde demanded.

"It seems you have not been telling me something…or the truth."

"I don't follow," Therese bluntly replied.

"How is your husband, Mrs. McMahon Michaels? Is his back holding up well?" Bengisu asked with a smile.

"He's doing well, thank you ver—wait, how do you know that?" Stephanie asked with wide eyes.

"When did you and Kevin get a divorce? Did I not see you on RAW about six months ago going into labor?" the director asked with a straight face, turning to Therese.

"We have television contracts in Turkey?" Stephanie blurted out.

"No, but we would like it if you would consider. However, I have a friend in England who records the shows and mails me the tapes."

"Well, now that that's all straightened out," Therese said calmly and stood, "we'll be getting out of your way."

"Sit…please." The blonde stared at him for a moment and then casually sat back down in the plush chair. "I take it you did not find any information on your _ex_-husband."

"No, sir," Stephanie piped up, hoping to smooth over the way Therese had been to a fan.

"I will dismiss these concerns against you two if you leave immediately and do not return until you leave the country. Is this agreeable?"

"But—" the agent began.

Stephanie quickly put out a hand and grabbed Therese's knee. "That is agreeable."

"Thank you, ladies. Have a pleasant stay in Istanbul."

"Thank you, Mr. Bengisu," Stephanie said with a brilliant smile as she stood. Therese rose as well and opened her mouth to say something but the brunette grabbed her arm and dug her fingers in, steering her friend out the door and calling over her shoulder. "I'll look into some television contracts for our Turkish fans." When they were out of earshot, Stephanie spoke, "Let's get a cab and go to our hotel. They've got room service so we don't have to go out."

"I _can _do that in Turkish."

"Good," Stephanie replied with a snarl, "That'll be the best thing you've done in the past twenty minutes."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Therese asked, bowing up and stopping.

"Could you have offended that man anymore? You made us out to be arrogant, hateful Americans, proving the world's beliefs about us," Stephanie explained tensely as she gestured at herself.

"_He _offended me first!"

"Therese, you are not this childish. What got into you?"

"I don't know," she sighed as they continued to walk to the exit. "I think all the anger and all the frustration finally hit when his lackeys put their hands on us. I just went into this zone of being pissed off and doing the pissing off."

"Has this ever happened before?"

"Not really. I crawled that guy pretty good who gave us the description of Colin Jenkins," Therese explained, remembering the man who had delivered a message from Stephanie's stalker those years back. "It's never really been part of my job."

"It's okay. You were right—he probably would have kicked us out anyway. I think we're just tired, frustrated and hungry."

"Thanks."

"For what?" Stephanie asked with a crinkled brow.

"I just knew that McMahon temper was going to be unleashed on me but you didn't."

"I think I would have done the same thing but I just don't have the balls. So, I can't fault you."

"Honey, you got balls the day you became a McMahon," Therese replied with a laugh as she rifled through her handbag.

"Yeah, but I don't usually start trouble in foreign countries."

"Very true," Therese responded, pulling out the Turkish reader and her cell phone. "I've got a message. Mind if I get it?" she asked, a lump forming in her throat over the possibilities of what it was about.

When she clapped the phone shut, Stephanie looked at her expectantly. "Well?"

"Bergeron came into work today," Therese sighed. "Jamie said he sounded like he had been sick—still hacking and sniffling. I knew it was too easy to be him."

TBC...


	12. Just a Little Computer Research

**_Chapter XII: Just a Little Computer Research_**

"I have faith in you, Steph," Therese encouraged, rubbing Stephanie's upper arms vigorously, like she was trying to get her warm. In a way, she was. This was the next part of their contingency plan. The VP had indeed booked the room that the 'ransom' call had been made from. What the man said really couldn't be labeled a ransom call but they had nothing else to call it. The room told them nothing and there was no way they could get any prints to take back with them since the place probably contained a million. She didn't need CSI to tell her that. Now, Therese was about to do something she hoped wasn't illegal in Turkey.

"Thanks but I just don't want to get thrown in prison here. Do you think it'd be as bad as Afghanistan? Do you know what they do to women there?" Stephanie asked with a horrified look on her face.

"No, it won't be like Afghanistan, but it won't be you getting arrested, it'll be me."

"I don't want either one of us arrested. What happens if you do?"

"I'm not going to, so let's not even entertain the thought," Therese replied dismissively.

"But—"

"You'll figure something out if it happens. Now, let's get 'some fresh towels'," the blonde interrupted, making the quote marks in the air with her fingers.

The man behind the receptionist desk was thankfully not the concierge. That boded well for them. "There weren't any towels in our room. Could we get some more, please?" Stephanie asked, flashing the guy a smile. He was probably in his early twenties and quite possibly not of the strictly conservative generation. Either way, she tried to flatter him without being offensive. In way, she thought there was something in being able to offend like what the writers got away with on wrestling. Here, there was too much at stake.

The receptionist looked at the log opened on the desk and ran his finger down a lined sheet of paper. "You should have gotten towels," he questioningly stated in a thick accent.

The almost always glib Stephanie was quick with an answer. "You see, we accidentally dropped two of them in the toilet and the other two got wet in the process of getting those out. I didn't want to tell you because it was so embarrassing," the brunette explained, casting down her eyes and demurely looking away.

"I will get you some more," he replied, trying to hide his smile. The two women watched him stride across the lobby and down a hall.

As soon as he was out of their sight, Therese hurried around the desk, plopping in the chair in front of the computer. "Keep a close watch-out," the blonde murmured, clicking the mouse to end the screensaver.

"No, duh," Stephanie muttered to herself as she turned around and leaned on the high counter, listening to the clicks on the keyboard. When she thought the receptionist should have been back, she looked over her shoulder to see Therese slamming her finger down on the mouse. "Anything?"

"No," she said through gritted teeth. Everything was obviously in Turkish but she couldn't find any records for the previous occupants of their room. She had to open up almost every button to find a list of names and room numbers. When she had found Stephanie's name, she knew she had hit paydirt but that was as far as she had gotten. A few more buttons and there was nothing else she could find to check.

"He's coming back," Stephanie whispered as she hurried back from where she was peering down the hall a few steps away.

"Crap!" Therese muttered and Stephanie could hear her banging at the keyboard. "I can't get these programs to close that I accidentally opened up."

"What!"  
"We'll just have to stall him again," Therese stated, scurrying around the desk.

"Alright, I've got an idea," the VP stated and met the man half way across the lobby. "I've been talking with my friend and we've realized we forgot our toothpaste and toothbrush. Do you keep complimentary toiletry kits?"

"Yes, we do."

"May we have two, please?"

An annoyed look quickly passed over his face. "Yes," he answered and handed her the fresh towels.

As soon as he was out of sight again, Therese was back at the computer, furiously clicking away. Stephanie knew things weren't going well when the blonde began making frustrated noises. "Let's just ask him if he knows who stayed in our room," her look-out said.

"I'm really sure they just volunteer that information," Therese sarcastically replied. "Well, I officially give up." This was said with a huge sigh. "However, I can't get these programs to close."

"He'll know we've been on it if we don't get them closed."

"Like I don't know that!"

"Oh my god! He's back!"

"What! That what so much quicker!" Therese exclaimed and began searching for the plug-end and then realized he would know just as well that they had been on it when he discovered it unplugged.

"He's in the lobby. Stay down!" Stephanie whispered and hurried over to intercept the receptionist. "Thank you so much," she cooed.

Therese was huddled under the desk, trying to find the 'off/on' button on the tower. Finally, she found the flip switch on the back and the computer screen went back, causing a slight noise. She winced, hoping the man hadn't noticed, but began formulating an excuse anyhow. _I dropped my change…no change available…Do I have my keys…no…Oh, I dropped my contact! Don't wear'em but you can't find the damn little things when you do drop them, _the agent thought in rapid succession.Still on all fours, she peeked around the desk to see Stephanie deftly maneuvering the receptionist around to where his back was almost to Therese. Adrenaline pounding through her system, she glanced to either side of the desk to determine her escape. To the right was a staircase that led to rooms that were nowhere near theirs. To the left was the business center. Now squatting on her haunches, she waddled a few steps on crouched legs and then dashed for the center.

Out of the corner of her eye, Stephanie caught the limber woman making her dash. With an inward sigh of relief, she thanked the man and began walking towards the business center to be met by Therese. "Got my e-mail done," Therese loudly and obviously announced. Now there shouldn't be any doubt. She took a towel and a kit from Stephanie with a broad smile and they turned to head up the stairs at the opposite end of the lobby.

"You're enjoying this a little too much," Stephanie stated on the stairs.

"Yeah, I know. It'd be great if it didn't involve our husbands."

Stephanie inserted their room key and turned it as she asked, "Do you think you might have found something with more time?"

"Not really. I'm not a computer geek but I kept getting nowhere with every click of the button. I freaking froze up the screen!" Therese shut the door behind her as if to add emphasis.

"But what if you find that one thing that you didn't tonight?"

"I think we could sit on our butts and these idiots that have Kevin and Shawn would make sure we know where they're at eventually. However, the sooner the better and I'd like to know who I'm dealing with before I get there."

"I've had that thought too. I'm terrified but knowing that they won't let us just walk away or miss the next cue keeps me from freaking out. Well," Stephanie sighed and settled on the bed, "now what?"

"Now I figure out a way to get the security tapes and see if I can recognize anybody," the blonde explained, opening the toiletry kit to see what was inside.

"There're security cameras!" Stephanie's voice rose in pitch. "They caught us on tape just now! I thought you said—"

"Wait, wait," Therese interrupted, waving a razor. "The only camera I've found so far is the one at the door. There aren't any in the lobby or the halls."

"Oh," she replied and flopped back on the bed. "I'm exhausted. I think I'll try and sleep."

"I'm too wired. I think I'll sit on the balcony. That view of the Bosphorus is amazing."

"Yeah, I know. I wish this was a vacation and we could enjoy the scenery."

"Well, there's nothing to do right now, so I _am _going to enjoy the scenery…even if it is only what I can see by the moon and those little red lights on the boats," Therese remarked, tossing the kit towards her suitcase. Stephanie chuckled lightly at her friend when the little bag landed about two feet away from her luggage.

* * *

"Stash the fork in the desk," Shawn stated, pulling out the empty drawers they had already checked several times before. 

Shortly after Kevin had been unceremoniously dumped in the same place as Michaels, the taller man began yelling for food. Shawn tolerated it despite his aching head because he hoped it would garner them something to eat. When no one answered Kevin's booming demands, the man struggled up from his sitting position, his feet still unbound, and began banging on the door with his shoulder. It wasn't long before the door was shoved open, knocking Kevin off-balance. Without his arms to support him, he stumbled backwards and banged into the wall. He then slid back down the wall beside Shawn to rest.

It was Shawn's abductor. In one hand, he held a gun and, in the other, a bag from a fast-food restaurant. He flipped on the light and Shawn and Kevin grimaced. The man tossed the bag on the desk and abruptly turned to leave without a word. "Dude, how do you expect us to eat with our hands tied?"

The dark-haired man yelled at his partner, who appeared quickly. The other man had a gun as well but the first handed over his gun. He pulled a Swiss army knife from his pocket and motioned for Kevin to stand up. The wrestler did so and turned to have the zip-ties cut. Nash then pulled Shawn to his feet, whom he had to carefully spin as the blonde's ankles were still bound. The abductor slashed through the plastic ties at his wrists and then bent over to cut those around his bare feet. As he started to stand back up, Kevin grabbed the man's arm and twisted it behind his back, the knife falling from his hand. He fought against the painful pricks spreading throughout his hands and arms from them regaining feelings after being bound so long. Shawn fumbled for the knife, his own arms seizing up by the same painful jabs scoring his own limbs. However, he immediately dropped the would-be weapon as Kevin simultaneously dropped the abductor's arm. The click of one of the guns being cocked was enough to remind them that were on the bad end of this deal and couldn't risk death to get out, not when they didn't know what exactly was going on.

"If you do anything like that again," Shawn's abductor ground out, rubbing his shoulder that Kevin had come close to dislocating, "you can forget food. You better hope your pretty wives find you before you starve to death." With that, he slammed the door shut behind him.

If the two men weren't so hungry, they might have been surprised that there was an old metal desk in the room and a cubicle in the corner they hadn't noticed before for the dim light coming in under and over the top of the door. Shawn reached for the brown paper bag, his fingers still less than nimble for the blood returning to his hands. "Well, so much for that idea," he muttered through hamburger. Kevin didn't even respond as he shoved fries into his mouth. "Food has never tasted so good," Shawn continued around the sip of coke and another mouthful of food.

"A bathroom would be better," Kevin replied through a mouthful of food, heading for the cubicle. "Praise God in all his mercies," the taller man practically shouted as he saw what exactly was inside. Not that he hadn't shared a bathroom before but Shawn immediately looked away when he noticed Kevin fumbling in his boxers. He was still amazed that they weren't freezing in this place in just their boxers and undershirts and barefoot from where they had crawled out of bed to inspect what they had hoped were things that go bump in the night.

Neither of the men sat down as they ate, grateful to be able to stand. Shawn watched Kevin start pacing the room but then realized he was checking it out. The place was not large but not small either. The desk sat on the right side of the room and metal shelves were opposite it. Only a filing cabinet was on the other side of the office. Kevin carefully set the hamburger down in its paper on top of the cabinet and opened each door, running his hand on the bottom and sides of the drawer. Shawn took the hint and began pulling up the drawers of the desk. In the six compartments, there wasn't anything. "Nothing here," he said.

Kevin shook his head, wiping off his hands before picking the sandwich back up. "Same here," he said, biting into the greasy meat.

Shawn ran his hands over the shelving while his friend tried to peer out the top of the door. A square glass panel was in the door but had been blocked with cardboard where they couldn't see out. "You wouldn't mind, would you?" Kevin asked, pointing to the bottom of the door.

The blonde nodded and dropped to all fours, literally sticking his nose out the space between the floor and the door. "Well, we're definitely in an old carpet mill but all I can see are some krill racks." Kevin sent him a confusing look. "It's where they put the spools of thread on…my friend in high school worked in a carpet mill," Shawn replied with a shrug and pulled himself off of the floor.

"Did you see those two?" Kevin asked, referring to their abductors.

Shawn's voice dropped a level. "One of them's sitting outside the door on one of those metal chairs."

"Folding chair?"

"No, it's like it's the seat of one of those desks like at Dinah's school—metal legs, plastic seat except regular size."

"Hmm…" Kevin simply replied and began to unwrap his second burger as did his best friend.

Now, however, they were fumbling around in the desk drawers, attempting to hide a metal fork inside. Ever since they first cased the joint, they had discussed all possible ways to get out without getting shot. The abductors had made it clear that they needed to sit tight because Therese and Stephanie were on the way. If they came out damaged in any way, their wives might not be so lucky as well. Nevertheless, they had no intention of putting their women in danger and planned on getting out and nipping the problem in the bud.

"Think they'll miss the fork?" Shawn asked. "That's why I'm not taking both of them."

"I hope not," Kevin replied, still focused on the drawer to figure out how to hide the utensil.

"We made a big stink about getting it." They were sick of being fed greasy hamburgers and weren't looking forward to having to work the fat off in the gym. Shawn, the manipulator he was, fanagled them into some real food, which turned out to be Chinese take-out. The plates had no utensils and, after a while, one of them returned with forks, muttering something about his girlfriend's silverware. From the tone of his voice, the man probably didn't care if the forks made it back to her kitchen drawer.

"And then what are we gonna do with it, kemosabe? Stab'em to death before they shoot us?" Kevin asked, a little perturbed at how things were going.

"Hey, don't take it out on me that we're stuck in here and you haven't come up with a way out yet."

"Me? You ain't come up with one either."

"At least I thought about keeping the fork—wait," Shawn ordered, putting a hand up to stop Kevin. "I've got an idea."

TBC…


	13. More Damned Riddles

_**Chapter XIII: More Damn Riddles**_

To another tourist's eye, Therese and Stephanie were lounged out and sharing a lazy breakfast atop the hotel's roof as they planned their day of shopping and sightseeing. Actually, the two women kept one eye on their cellphones, despite the fact that one couldn't miss their distinctive rings, while the other eye was on plans for their next move.

When Therese couldn't discover a name in the computer system, she made plans to get her hands on security tapes. At the staff change in the evening of American hotels, a general inspection of the hotel occurred. She was banking on the same thing happening here. When the concierge was walking the hallways, she would be in the maintenance room slipping out tapes. She wasn't quite sure when the change would happen and made plans to read the paper in the lobby and then act as if she was waiting to be picked up for a date, which, of course, would be very late. However, there was nothing else to do until then.

Therese leaned back in her seat and began flipping her phone over on its end and back up again. She breathed in the morning air and pointed at two very large buildings, which she assumed to be mosques, that could be seen from the dining area of the hotel's roof. "Those look really old. You wanna go visit them today?"

"That one," Stephanie began and pointed at the one with the minarets, "is the Blue Mosque. It's almost four hundred years old. The other one is the Hagia Sophia. It was—"

Therese sat up quickly. "Oh, I know that name. We learned about it in this history class I took a hundred years ago. This church was to the Eastern Orthodox Church like Rome was to the Catholics after the schism."

Stephanie stared at Therese, her mouth starting to hang open a bit. "When did you get all religious?"

"Once upon a time I was a good Catholic."

"You and Kevin gonna bring your girls up that way?"

"I don't know. I know we had them christened in the Church but they're girls. I'm a feminist and all but most days I feel like the Vatican acts like we're second rate. It don't matter. I wanna raise them to make their own decisions and I wanna raise them in Church until they can make that decision of what they want to believe but then I'm afraid they won't do that with them being told what to think and what to believe."

"Whoa, slow down. That is way too much to be worrying about right now," Stephanie said, holding up her hands.

"Oh, it's just part of another long list I worry too much about."

"Therese, what's going on—" Stephanie began but Therese cut her off.

"You're the one that's been on edge lately. What's up with you?"

"I asked first," the brunette petulantly replied.

"Obviously, we're not gonna get anywhere," the woman's friend blatantly stated. "What were we talking about…oh, yeah, Hagia Sophia, patriarch, Eastern Orthodox Church, extremely important to all of Christianity before the iconoclast controversy. Let's go shopping."

"What?"

"We _are _in Istanbul," the agent answered. "How can we not do some shopping?"

"Our husbands have been kidnapped and we don't know exactly—"

"And what good is it gonna do us to sit around worrying about them when we can't do anything about it?" The brunette didn't respond but crossed her arms and looked away. "Stephanie, I'll go crazy if we sit here all day staring at our cellphones and waiting to be contacted. We'll have our phones on us. What else do we need?"

The VP shifted a little in her seat, weighing the proposition. Therese had a point—she too would go crazy simply staring at their phones and waiting. "I guess it would be nice to have something to show Shawn for having to hunt his sorry ass down," Stephanie muttered.

"Sorry ass?"

"I had to cuss at somebody and I wasn't going to cuss at _you._ I learned that lesson a long time ago."

"Alright. Where are we going?" Therese asked, gratefully she had someone who help take her mind off of things.

"Why would I know?"

"I saw you reading that tourist's guide and you left it open on the shopping page."

"Okay, so it _crossed _my mind," Stephanie admitted, rolling her eyes.

"The only time you're not thinking about shopping is when you're having sex," Therese seriously replied.

Stephanie glared at her but then broke out in a smile, which was returned by the blonde. "I'll give you that one. There's this bazaar that's a real attraction. It's touristy but not so bad that you can't get some really good Turkish things."

"Let's go then," Therese replied, double-checking her cellphone and slipping it into her pocket.

* * *

Stephanie lounged in the courtyard of the once ancient church and mosque but now a museum. After reading a few brochures and glancing at the humongous mosque across the lawn, she was in awe of the history that was before her. If she concentrated on the architecture, she could pretend this was a much needed vacation in the Mediterranean. When this was all over, she would definitely take time off and she and Shawn would come back here on a cruise. He would love to see where they filmed the James Bond movie _From Russia With Love _inside the church when it was once a mosque. 

There was, of course, the great shopping. Vendors had gone out of their way to sell the two women any article. For a few brief hours, they had been able to put this ordeal just far enough away to have a good time and laugh. Stephanie laughed out loud remembering how they had pondered an authentic Turkish bath. When she protested about being washed by another person while she was naked in front of other women, Therese just laughed her off, telling her to think of the luxury and the steambath afterward. Stephanie was about to sign on the dotted line when they both realized within seconds of each other they'd be away from their phones. With that decided, a trip to the mosque and church across from their hotel and whatever else they would encounter along the way was the next item on the agenda.

Therese was coming out of the cool building, shielding her eyes from the contrast between the dark hallways and the sun, when her phone began to ring. She had been concentrating on where she knew the name "Aslan," something she had seen on a storefront earlier. With her mind elsewhere, it took her a second to get her phone out, long enough for Stephanie to notice and hurry over from the stone bench.

"Therese! Enjoy the Hagia Sophia?" the voice on the other end of the phone asked. The blonde didn't reply immediately as she surreptitiously looked around. "Don't be so obvious. I'm no where in sight." Therese straightened up in a defiant manner. She may not be able to see him but he could see her and she wasn't about to appear discomfited in any way.

"It's him?" Stephanie mouthed and Therese nodded.

"Where and when?" the agent asked.

"Have you found Michaels and Nash?" the abductor asked with a laugh.

"No and you've not been extremely helpful."

"Here's some help. Where can you find six thousand year old ruins—but they're not iron—that are connected to a name in common with C. S. Lewis' works? Happy hunting! Call me when you get there!" he lightly ended.

Therese tried to protest but he had already hung up. "What is the point in sending us on this chase?" she huffed. "They want our money but they're not making much of an effort to take it."

"What now?" Stephanie sighed, knowing things had not gone as well as either had hoped.

"He gave me some damn riddle or something. We've got to find six thousand year old ruins that aren't made of iron that have some name in common with C. S. Lewis' books."

"What?"

"That's where I know it!" Therese literally shouted, putting her hand to her mouth in a gesture of intense thought.

"Start talking," Stephanie demanded.

"We've gotta pack. We're taking a trip _way _back in time."

Stephanie hated it when Therese did this. She was always left to piece things together by herself while Therese thought she could solve everyone else's problems on her own. "I take it you're not staking out the lobby this evening."

Therese stopped walking down the street between the church-cum-museum and the mosque. "Ugh…" she breathed. They could be on the road in less than an hour and be one more step closer to Shawn and Kevin. However, if she waited a few more hours, she might be able to identify their abductors. However, the key word was "might." But what if Shawn and Kevin were waiting on them _now_? "What's your opinion?"

"As soon as we figure out where this place is, I say we get out of here," Stephanie offered.

After a fight as to who was doing what as they retuned to the hotel, both women decided to work together instead of splitting up the tasks. The business center of the hotel was completely empty and they made quick work of hitting the search engines. "We're looking for something that's six thousand years old and probably has the name 'Aslan' connected to it."

"Isn't that the lion's name in _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_?"

"Exactly," Therese replied, pointing a finger at the brunette. "It was when he said C.S. Lewis that I realized where I knew this name that I saw on a storefront—Aslan. Maybe it's Turkish for 'Lion'." Every night that Kevin was home, only _he_ was allowed to read to Dinah before her going to bed. They were reading through the Lewis book currently and Therese had heard several snippets as she went through the hall, taking care of housework without the encumbering leech attached to her leg.

"You don't know?" Stephanie asked with wide eyes. "I thought you were studying that language book."

"I'm not fighting with you about that again. 'Lion' isn't exactly a word that pops up in everyday language. I was more concerned with 'where's the bathroom' than 'what a pretty lion'."

"You're bitching again," the VP blatantly replied.

"Who said I was bitching in the first place?"

"It's not exactly something that _has _to be stated."

"I already didn't take crap off of anybody and, after getting married and having kids, it got worse. Don't you start—" Therese threatened but Stephanie interrupted.

"I think I found it," the brunette practically shouted.

"What? Where?"

"It's a place called Karatepe. It was a Hittite city that's estimated to be about six to eight thousand years old," Stephanie explained as she scrolled down the page on the monitor. "The Hittites were mistakenly thought to have been the first to use iron."

"They're not made of iron," Therese mumbled recalling the call earlier.

"There's a view of the Aslantas dam."

"Is that close enough to 'Aslan'?"

"I don't know," Stephanie replied. "The world's older than six thousand years old. These ruins could be anywhere and who knows how many of those aren't made of iron—probably the majority of them. That's not to mention how many names occur in Lewis' works."

"Yeah, he was quite the prolific children's and Christian writer," Therese replied, quite proud of that tidbit of information.

"Christian? Really?"

"You didn't pick that up when you read _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_?"

"You may have paid attention in your Confirmation classes but I was too busy thinking about boys," Stephanie replied with a lewd grin as she rose from her seat at the computer.

"This is our best guess as any. I'll start packing if you'll book us the first flight out of here and get us directions."

"Only if you promise to not start anything with that airport director again," Stephanie warned with a smile.

"Done deal," Therese replied with her own grin.

TBC…


	14. Solid Protection: Guns and Forks

**Author's Notes: **Individual replies to reviewers are at the end of the chapter. I know it's a little slow right now but these are mostly character building chapters until we can really take off. Stick with me because I really think you'll like the climax—of the story (heads out of the gutter—now)!

**_Chapter XIV: Solid Protection: Guns and Forks_**

Once again, the two women were back on an airplane. Unfortunately upon their arrival, it was too late for them to rent a car and drive out the several hours to what remained of the ancient city of Karatepe. They learned quickly that everything in Turkey shut down at about five or six o'clock in the evening.

Therese spent the early evening in the business center of the hotel researching Karatepe. Stephanie, having earlier booked them a rental car for in the morning, thought she was going to strangle her friend as she paced the room studying the images she had printed off of the site. The best the brunette could do was look over the pages as the security agent tossed them aside. She called her mother and chatted about how she was having a grand time hanging out with Therese and her girls. Apparently Linda didn't stay on the up and up about where the absent wrestlers were. Triple H didn't even acknowledge the women's voicemails about their husbands—no call back nor mention on the show. That end of the deal was going well. So far, Sharon and Joe hadn't questioned them either. Therese talked to Dinah and Sharon for a few minutes the past two nights and nothing was said of Dinah not speaking to her father. Stephanie couldn't take the nervous energy anymore and popped a sleeping pill. She was asleep hours before Therese paced herself to exhaustion.

The blonde had only slept a few hours when she was up, trying to rouse Stephanie with coffee. It wasn't working very well. The usually chipper VP dragged herself out of bed and into something that resembled an outfit. She shoved on a pair of sunglasses and hardly protested when Therese slipped in behind the wheel for the long drive.

Somewhere around ten minutes away from Karatepe, Stephanie snorted awake, vaguely aware of how she came to be in a rickety car in the middle of nowhere. "Glad you could join us, sleeping beauty," Therese muttered, frustrated with her numb butt and aching back. "I'll let you drive us back when we're done and _I'll _take a nap."

"Sorry," she murmured, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"You took a whole pill, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I think so," Steph whispered, digging through her bag for a bottle of water.

"You have missed some incredible scenery," Therese replied in a lighter tone.

"How much coffee have you had?" the brunette sarcastically muttered.

"Enough."

"No kidding," Stephanie said under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," the VP said through a yawn. "What's our plan?"

"I don't have one," Therese answered with a shrug, still a little too cheerful for Stephanie's taste. "He just said to call him when we got there."

"Do you think we'll get Shawn and Kevin back now?"

"I don't know. I'm ready for anything," Therese replied and shifted her jacket to reveal her shoulder harness and Beretta.

"How did you get that in the country?"

"I had a permit to carry it overseas. Plus, it's a 'gift' to Jamie's grandfather," the blonde answered, making rabbit ears in the air.

The wheel jerked to the side and Stephanie shot up in the seat right before Therese righted it, even though they were on a deserted road.

"I'm awake now!" the brunette exclaimed before catching her breath and then adding, "I thought we suspected him."

"I don't think it's him, simply because he agreed to lie for us. But that doesn't mean I've ruled him out."

"Why didn't you just bring that little pistol you got? That's easier to hide."

"Think of it this way—this one," she held her hands out wide, "or this one," and brought them in closer before quickly grabbing the wheel again.

"Oh, well, if you put it that way," Stephanie softly replied, feeling slightly better now that they had more solid protection. She may not have agreed with carrying a gun but, right now, it was better than nothing.

Therese parked next to two other small cars, grateful that there were no more tourists present. They paid the admission fee and began the long walk up the steep hill to the ruins. At the crest, both paused at the sight before them. The Ceyphan River sparkled in the sunlight amidst a green land that showed no signs of civilization. "Could you imagine waking up to this every morning?" Stephanie sighed, lulled into bliss by the sight and the chirping birds.

It's not that she couldn't enjoy the sight but that Therese was too on edge about the phonecall she had to make. "Yeah," she muttered and began surreptitiously glancing around while faking an admiration of the scene. Wanting to get her bearings about her, she headed for the portico that held the ruins and Stephanie soon followed. The brunette pointed out several facts from the brochure they received at the gate, helping to cover their intent. She too was now nervous, wondering if Shawn was here now or if this was another stop on the way.

The site was fairly small, only two walls of stone glyphs stood. Palace intrigue, political maneuvers, and religious ceremonies of the Hittites were exposed for anyone to interpret, to touch. Stephanie was surprised to not see them cordoned off or behind glass. At the end were two statutes of lions that would scare the pants off any kid in the dark and a very large carving of the thunder god Baal. "This is it," Stephanie sighed, disappointed that that they had seen no one they knew as the two women looked out over the lake formed by the Aslantas dam. The VP nodded and Therese knew there was no point in stalling further.

The agent pulled out her cellphone and dialed the number they had originally traced. "Therese," the caller answered as if he was glad to hear her.

"We're here. Where is my husband?"

"Still alive," he glibly remarked.

"I didn't ask how he was—I asked where."

"Don't get snotty with me because you know what can happen." Therese bit her lip to keep from retorting. "No more comments?"

"No, just tell me what hoop we have to jump through next."

"You're not enjoying your Mediterranean vacation?" the abductor asked as if he was truly concerned about her.

"I would if I had my husband and my children here," she sarcastically replied.

"I thought you were done with the comments." Once again, she bit her lip hard, this time tasting blood. When she didn't respond, he continued. "You're a good Catholic girl. There's _something _there that represents the evil of the Old Testament. Now, think of the original glory, the complete splendor of what represented evil in the New Testament and it connects with that _something._"

When he began talking, Therese immediately began motioning to Stephanie for a pen and a piece of paper. The brunette had turned her back to other woman but still hung on every word. Therese had to tap her on the shoulder to get a pen but he was done before Steph could pull anything out of her purse. "Could you be anymore vague?" she asked but the man hung up without another word.

* * *

On the other side of that call, the phone was angrily clapped shut. "I'm not ready to bring them here. I don't see why we can't draw this out anymore like we planned." 

The other man held up his bandaged hand. "You want to be on the receiving end of this next time?"

"No, of course not. But it's not like they'll be getting their hands on another fork any time soon," the other abductor replied.

The injured man rolled his eyes. "I don't trust them. Let's just get our money and get out of here. It's your turn to get _them _food."

"No, it's not. I did it last time."

"And last time, I got stabbed. I think that counts for something. Besides, we didn't leave the food last time. Just give them that, as if they deserve it." While he was still steaming over being stabbed, Shawn Michaels was still steaming over their plans being foiled.

Every meal had been delivered with no incident and the two abductors were none the wiser when one opened door to the office. The light was out and Shawn was plastered against the wall, hidden by the dimness. When the man was fully in the door, Shawn stabbed at him with the concealed fork but the dark-haired man had thrown up his arm to block the blow, the fork barely sinking into the top of his hand. Kevin speared him to the floor and Shawn lunged for the second man, knocking him into the cinderblock wall.

"Kev, let's go," Shawn shouted and began to run at breakneck speed towards what he assumed was the front of the long building.

When he didn't hear Kevin behind him, he slowed down to risk a glance behind him and a bullet glanced off the wall beside him. He dove for cover but the thin, spindly krill racks hardly hid him. Crawling for the corner, he tried to locate the shooter. The image at the other end of the building literally brought him to his knees. The shorter of the two abductors had Kevin writhing on the floor, a gun to his head. "I give," Shawn shouted, holding his hands up and slowly getting to his knees. The second attacker emerged from behind a stack of carpet rolls, only a few yards from Shawn.

"Get-back-in-your-hole," he growled. Michaels rose to his feet and began the trek back to the office. He swallowed hard, trying to control his emotions. He was forever grateful to have his best friend in this situation but he had been mere yards away from freedom and being in his wife's arms.

Shawn squatted beside Kevin who was now sitting up. "You okay?" The taller man nodded and the blonde offered a hand to help him up and into the confines of the room again. Settling him against the hard wall, Shawn noticed the red skin and knot beginning to form on his forehead. "How 'bout some ice?"

"You screwed that one up," the abductor replied and slammed the door shut.

"What happened?" Shawn tenderly asked.

"The bastard pistol-whipped me," Kevin replied, reaching to feel the knot forming.

"Don't touch it. It'll only hurt more."

"Who cares anymore?" Kevin muttered. "Got one in the front to match the one in the back from where he hit me in my own kitchen. Is this one cut like the other one?"

"No but let me check on the other one, just to make sure you didn't make it worse," Shawn replied, wanting to make sure, for his own personal mental well-being, that his friend was going to be completely fine. The cut had clotted over shortly after Kevin had been taken from his home and still remained that way.

Michaels slid down the wall to sit beside Nash. "Tell me what's going on with the girls."

"They're fine. You know that," Kevin angrily replied.

Shawn wanted to take their mind off the claustrophobic room and the fact that he was almost shaking with rage over their plans gone awry and the best he could come up with was to get Kevin to talk about his family. "Did Therese enroll her in those hockey lessons?"

"I told her if she did—"

"You actually threatened Therese!" Shawn interrupted.

"Well, yeah, sort of. But think about what my baby would look like with a crooked nose and missing teeth. Ballet, piano, that's safe," Kevin said, gesturing his hands outward as he proclaimed the activities safe.

"You can't protect them from everything."

"Watch me try. You'd understand if you had some of your own." Shawn was about to tell him they were hoping for one of their own soon but Kevin was talking and only god knew how long they'd be in this place. There was still plenty of time left to talk about his own insecurities. He would get there eventually—he needed to. He needed to be reassured that it wasn't either his or Stephanie's fault that she wasn't pregnant yet. He _really_ needed a shoulder to pour out his worries that he was incapable of fathering children beyond just the act. Stephanie was so perfect that, if something was wrong, he knew it had to lie with him. He hadn't wanted to say anything to his wife because he hoped she would conceive and he wouldn't have to worry anymore. The only other person he could talk to seriously about this was Kevin. Not to mention, Stephanie hadn't wanted to broadcast their plans as she felt this was a private matter no one needed to know about until the initial risk for a miscarriage was over.

By the time a lull in the conversation occurred and Shawn was about to bring up the prospect of babies, the door creaked open to show the silhouette of the abductor who hadn't been stabbed. He held his gun out towards them with both hands, the sack of food dangling from underneath the weapon. "Here," he gruffly stated and tossed the food at Shawn.

Michaels was immediately pissed again and insolently replied, "I thought you said we wouldn't get any more food if we tried anything again."

"Your stupid wives are taking longer than expected. Can't have our bargaining chips dead." The two men had discussed it. As much as they wanted to deprive them of food, they weren't about to do anything that would jeopardize their plans. One brought up the fact that Nash was an old geezer and no food might trigger a heartattack or something else. Anything could happen and it could keep Therese and Stephanie away longer than they were willing to not feed them. After the incident earlier, they probably wouldn't be wiling to try anything else. They had actually _had_ to shoot at Michaels.

TBC...

**

* * *

Author's Notes:** Well, this can't hurt every once in a while. Thanks for everyone's concern for my classes. They're going well. I'm just not as far into writing my thesis at this point as I'd liked to be. Mainly because I have 2 new jobs (which are only part-time together). Can't drive to class if I can't pay for gas! These are for chapters 10-13. 

_MutantXHottie: _I couldn't help but think of Kevin's aunt as one of those busybodies who really does mean good. I picture her as one of those who always says, "Well, bless her heart." Yes, I am cruel—cliffhangers and promotional tours. It can't possibly be that easy. As much digging as the two have done so far, I find it interesting (and I wrote it!) that the only information that they keep coming up with has come directly from the kidnappers. I didn't realize until I started writing this that Steph really played no part in the actual hunting of the stalker in the first one. She's mature enough now and smart enough that I see why there's not reason she can't be directly involved. However, Therese has this complex about being in control, which makes for fun fights. I bet the girls had no problem getting their shopping cut short if gets them to their guys sooner.

_karisma: _I love cliffhangers—keeps y'all coming back! Just kidding. I just like to leave readers wanting more. Glad you think the wait is worth it. As to the individual replies, I've heard the rumor from several people that they aren't allowed. At first, I wasn't going to take my chances but I think I could do this every so many chapters and not get in trouble. At least I'll get a warning first. ;) I loved your comment that the guys'll figure things out first before the girls do. I would love to write it that way but it would take away from my dramatic climax (pout).

_WandaXmaximoff_: It's so good to hear from you. I was getting worried. Glad to know that it's only because you're busy. Hope things get better for you soon. Steph and Therese will always annoy the hell out of each other—that's what best friends are for. However, they've now matured in that relationship. If you're confused as to who the kidnappers are, then I'm doing my job! Can't make it easy now. And of course, you knew I couldn't give too much away when that guy at the airport recognized H. That'd be too easy too. ;) I liked reversing Steph and Therese's roles in the confrontation with Bengisu. This is over 5 yrs. later from _Playing Charades _and I wanted to show Stephanie's maturity and give Therese some emotion other than anger and being highly protective. Therese doesn't give her love away easily; so when she does, you don't mess with who she loves. I saw the name "Aslan" on a watch store in this bazaar when I was in Istanbul 2 yrs. ago and then I realized so much more about the Chronicles, esp. when I got to eat Turkish delight for the first time.

_Latisha C: _Glad you liked the layer of explanations in ch. 10. That's a comment I don't usually get and I'm grateful for it. Therese is always on to something. It's just never what she wants it to be. I loved you comment as to why you liked the airport director. I wanted to make him suave and a little bit arrogant and angry from having to deal with stupid tourists all the time. Then I busted out laughing at this remark—"Every person's worst nightmare. Shawn has an idea." You're so funny. I like it when reviewers point out particular lines they like. Thanks. Also, I like it when you pick out things such as Steph's bluntness in ch. 13.

_RAW1029: _Sorry I've not properly thanked you for reading _Playing Charades. _It's a favorite of my own, so I'm always excited to hear when someone else likes it. Glad you could read the fics despite the OCs and romance. I try _very _hard to make the characters real and intersperse drama with the romance. Thanks so much for the compliments and I hope you keep reviewing despite the cliffhangers. ;)


	15. Magnum, PI, on Estrogen

_**Chapter XV: Magnum, P.I., on Estrogen**_

Stephanie listened carefully to all Therese had to say about the conversation from the 'ransom' call. This seemed to be another Internet research question and they were hours away from a computer. She sat down on one of the beams that held up the large stone tablets to still her nerves. She had skipped breakfast, having been too sleepy to eat, and was now regretting it as her stomach curled in on itself from anxiety. Therese sat down beside her and began furiously scribbling on the small notepad Stephanie had produced. She seemed to have her equanimity about her and hardly seemed to be shaken.

"You miss it, don't you?"

"Miss what?" Therese asked without missing a beat in her notes.

"This," Stephanie indicated, pointing at the notepad. "You really enjoyed your job before I came along, didn't you?"

"You hardly had anything to do with it," the blonde replied, drawing arrows across the small square of paper. "Evan wasn't happy with my job and I probably would have quit soon anyhow. But, yeah, I miss the adrenaline rush, this tension. I feed off of adrenaline. Sex and food, don't need'em when I'm on assignment. I think I may have found my calling." Therese laughed, glancing up at the brunette. "I'm Magnum, P.I. See, not only do I get to be a bodyguard and carry a gun, I get to do this too," she explained, holding up the notepad where she had been categorizing all the information they needed. Therese stared at the categories for a few minutes and sighed. "I'm not smart enough, never mind. When the girls are old enough, maybe I'll try some more escort assignments. Besides, for now," she said, finally focusing on Stephanie, "I've got what I hope is a wonderful husband and two beautiful little girls."

"What you _hope _is a wonderful husband?" the VP asked with raised eyebrows.

"Has it occurred to you that maybe the guys are leaving us and this is their way of skipping the country? This is some wild goose chase to make us think they were kidnapped?"

"I don't know what you haven't been telling me but my marriage is just fine," Stephanie replied defensively.

"It's always the wife that's the last to find out."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Stephanie voice had risen in anger.

Therese noticed the stares they were getting from newly arrived tourists and she replied, "This is not the place to have this discussion."

The blonde rose and began the trek back down the hill, dying to get the dressjacket off in the July heat that felt no different than Georgia. She carefully shrugged out of the jacket and pulled the holster off where no one could see. When the gravel rustled behind her, she turned to Stephanie, her face one of pity and sympathy. "Do you doubt your marriage that much?" the brunette softly asked.

Therese tried to say 'no' but she couldn't. "I…it's…" she dropped her hands to her sides, at a loss for words.

Stephanie nodded her head in the direction of the knoll that looked out over the lake and was shaded with trees. "You wanna talk?" When she didn't reply, Stephanie changed her question. "Maybe you _should _talk."

"There's not much to say. I doubt myself as a wife and as a mother."

"No, there's a lot there. You're not gonna figure out the next location until we can get on-line. Let's sit and talk before we find lunch."

Therese sucked on her teeth before closing the car door and headed for the grass. Stephanie had no idea what she was going to say. She worked very much on the philosophy of 'suck it up' and 'life's not fair.' Because of working in wrestling, she had steeled herself to all the complaints she heard day in and day out. If she gave in to one, she had to give in to them all. But this was one of her best friends and she wouldn't dare say something like to her. However, she had little experience dispensing advice and wisdom. It hardly mattered as Therese began right away as Stephanie sat down beside her.

"I feel like I'm losing Kevin. I hardly get to spend time with him now. Just as we get settled into bed and we get, you know, _going, _someone's got a nightmare. I smell like gross baby all the time. I don't blame him if he doesn't want to spend time with me. He's always focused on the girls and that's fine because he's got so little time to spend with them but I can't help but be selfish and want some time alone with him. Is that really selfish? It's not like he works a 9 to 5 job." Stephanie shook her head in response but Therese was already going on. "I severely doubt myself as a mother. The whole breast-feeding thing—I thought I was okay with it but maybe my body's doing things that my mind's thinking. I've really enjoyed myself too much without the girls. I actually have two arms again instead of just one from carrying Lily and two legs instead of three with Dinah hanging on me. I drop them off at Sharon's and Joe's and just sigh, delighted to be alone and everything quiet. I would do anything to go back to my job before I left New York. There's this little thing inside of me that makes me want to keeping do this and not find Kevin. Am I that bad of a person or a mother?"

When Therese stopped, she stared off over the lake. Stephanie thought that the other woman didn't seem to need an answer right away because she needed time to reply. She was once a very selfish person but Therese didn't seem to be saying more than what was right for any wife and mother to feel. She and Shawn had talked often about how their relationship would change when they had a baby and this is exactly some of their concerns. However, they considered it definitely worth the while. Yet, Stephanie was beginning to doubt herself as a woman. She couldn't very well even reply to Therese when she wasn't sure of herself, created to fulfill one function according to male chauvinists, and she couldn't even do that! If she doubted herself as a woman, she couldn't offer more than some sympathy for someone doubting herself as a wife and mother.

"Well, at least you've had kids," Stephanie sighed and Therese's head jerked up. The brunette began to pour out all her worries and doubts.

"Why didn't you tell me you were trying?" Therese asked, rubbing a soothing hand over the woman's arm.

"Because I didn't want to include any more people in our disappointment."

"When did I become 'people'?" she asked, mocking Stephanie's statement to her just a few short days ago.

"We're pathetic."

"I know," Therese replied, putting an arm around Stephanie and pulling her close.

"You still think our guys ran off together without us?"

"Not really but it doesn't mean I didn't think about it on more than one occasion because it all fit together so well."

"You know, they probably turned each other gay. Come on, look at them. Who wouldn't want them, man or woman?"

Therese couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of her own statement and Stephanie's facetious reply. After a few minutes of silence, the blonde said, "You are going to love being a mother, especially if you love my rugrats. They're a mess but they're mine."

"See," Stephanie suddenly replied, "You're not a bad mother. You just said in so many words how much you love them."

Therese smiled at her and patted her knee. "Let's quit wallowing in self-pity and find our guys. If they really ran off, we need to at least track'em down and make'em pay."

"Well, I'm all for that," Stephanie replied with a giggle.

The two women rose and climbed the steep hill once again, hoping to find something that they might have missed but there was nothing evident in the reliefs they could not read. Both of them stuck on the quasi-riddle, they headed out in the rickety rental car to the next café they could find before making the long drive back to the hotel.

* * *

"Dylan's still at work," Therese stated, clapping her phone shut after a call to Jamie Levenson. "So, if he's in on it, he is definitely not here." 

"Have you thought that maybe this guy could have come over, done his business, whatever that is, called you and then been on a plane back home. We know two people are involved, he could have left dodo number two here with Kevin and Shawn."

"Or Kevin and Shawn are back home with both dodos and we have to jump through all these hoops until one sends us back there. If they're home somewhere, why are we over here?"

"Psychological games, wasting more of our money, I don't know," Stephanie replied and Therese made a sound in the back of her throat that was somewhere between disgusted and frustrated. "Alright, let's go over it again."

"Something there represents evil in the Old Testament and we have to think of the splendor or glory of what represented evil in the New Testament." Both were thought in silence until Therese let out an exasperated sigh. "I went to a Catholic high school," she suddenly announced. "You'd think I'd know this."

"Did you really? How can we be friends for six years and I not know that?"

"Probably because I didn't volunteer it," Therese bluntly replied.

"Maybe this guy knows only _you _and knows that you went to a Catholic high school. Maybe that's why all the clues are religious ones. This is his hint at who he is," Steph explained.

"Why would he want me to know?"

"We're gonna know who they are eventually even though none of this makes sense."

"Okay, okay, back on track," Therese replied and pulled open the drawers of all the dressers in the room. "Too much to hope for a Gideon's Bible."

Stephanie chuckled. "I always put a phonebook on top of them if I had, um, _company._ It just didn't feel right."

"That huge statue of Baal had to mean something," Therese said, lightly tapping her lips with her finger and intentionally ignoring Stephanie's statement about _company._ "That's like the centerpiece of the ruins. It's been too long but I remember Baal was the god of the prophets that Elijah opposed."

"Elijah—wasn't he like the uberprophet of the Old Testament?"

"Yeah."

"Ooo, that's good," Stephanie quickly replied as if she was on the right track. "Then what prophet would be his New Testament counterpart?"

"Paul was kinda called a prophet. He had a whole pantheon of gods to deal with," Therese replied, tapping her lips harder.

"Where?"

"Well, everywhere but I guess the pantheon was mainly Greek and Roman."

"Didn't he travel to Rome?"

"That's where he supposedly died. But he had a major sermon targeting the Greeks about their idolatry—you know, the pantheon. Tradition has him giving the sermon before the Parthenon," Therese explained and scribbled notes of their conversation so far.

"The Parthenon!" Stephanie shouted. "How much more glorious can you get? The statue of Athena in the Parthenon was made of gold and _massive_. The place is huge. When you think of Greece, what do you think of?"

"The Olympics?" Therese slowly replied, not having a clue where the VP was going.

"The 2004 Olympics—what did they always focus on?"

"The Parthenon," Therese replied resignedly, feeling stupid for not catching on sooner.

"We're going to Athens, baby," Stephanie excitedly stated.

* * *

Being out in the middle of nowhere, the two women couldn't get a flight into Athens until the next day. Once again, being out in the middle of nowhere, there was nothing to do. Therese guiltily spent time on the phone with Dinah and talking to Sharon about Lily. When Kevin's aunt asked about him wanting to talk to his daughter, Therese waved her off by claiming he was taking a nap. She had no response for what Sharon had to say next. "You tell him to listen good. Tell him I said that he may be having problems with you but he better not ignore his girls because of it." 

"Um…okay…" Therese drawled in reply. This part of the charade was going too far. Hopefully she wouldn't have to stave Sharon off for much longer and then, if she knew her like she thought, she would be forgiven for leading her on.

Stephanie herself was on the phone but with her mother. Both Linda and Shane were under the impression that she and Shawn were staying in San Antonio because Shawn had the flu—in July—and she was taking care of him. She ordered her family, especially Stephen—Shane and Marissa's now five-year-old son, not to visit because the doctor said they might catch it. Of course, her mother was upset that Stephanie was putting her own self in a position to come down with the flu as well but her daughter quickly reminded her that Linda always put herself in that same situation to take care of her and Shane and their father before he became so unfaithful. Stephanie had only talked to Shane once and he said he would stay updated through Linda to keep from waking Shawn up by calling. WWE headquarters was also fed this lie, even though there was only one person besides the board to which she had to answer. Lies were coming so fast and easy now.

TBC…


	16. Lying Around, Sleeping, Crapping, Talkin

**_Chapter XVI: Just Lying Around, Sleeping, Crapping, and Talking_**

"This is absolutely amazing," Stephanie said in awe as she stepped through the massive marble propylaia, the gates, to the Parthenon. "I've always wanted to come here," she breathed.

"I never thought I'd ever make it here," Therese replied casually, straddling her own emotions of wonderment and nervousness of what they were about to find here regarding their husbands.

"I was a Greek mythology nut in high school and this is what represents Greek mythology most to me," the brunette added. She could only stare at the massive structure but then was jarred out of her stupor as other people on the walk pushed past her.

"Why don't you look around and I'll, um, make _the _call?" Therese offered.

"No, I want to be here when you make it."

"What if we have to rush off? Don't you want to see as much of this as you can?" the blonde genuinely asked, waving her hand toward the marble building.

"No, I want to be here for it. Plus, I plan on bringing Shawn back to see everything we've been to," she answered with a hopeful smile.

Normally, Therese would have been irritated and would have tried to send her away. Instead, she replied, "I understand."

* * *

The man was sleeping heavy, having a lewd dream about his girlfriend and her best friend. The first rings of the cellphone didn't faze him but several more shook him out of slumber and he began the sluggish ascent back to consciousness. It was his night off from guard duty and he was staying in his girlfriend's apart while she was out of town visiting her family. He fumbled for the phone but it stopped ringing. The phone was too cheap to have callerID but only one person had the number—Therese Blair. She had found the next spot way too quickly, which meant she was probably wrong. He wanted to curse her for waking him and interrupting the dream he was obviously enjoying. 

The dark-haired man stumbled into the bathroom to relieve himself and splash cold water on his face to wake himself up. He then settled on the bed to return her call. Before pushing send, he decided against dealing with the bitch. He always called Therese and his partner always called Stephanie. No doubt, the agent had used her resources to trace the numbers but he was intentional in leaving her with a dead-end. Now, he planned on playing a little game with them and dialed Stephanie's cellphone number.

Therese, now having wandered over to the stone wall surrounding the hill and contemplating the city of Athens, changed her ringtones like she changed underwear but, when Stephanie found one she liked, she stayed with it for a while. When the blonde heard the tune, she hurried over her friend flipped open the phone. "Is it him?" she mouthed.

Stephanie nodded but then tuned Therese out as she concentrated on the call. "Mrs. McMahon-Michaels, how're enjoying your trip?"

"Fine enough," she nonchalantly replied. "Just planning on where Shawn and I will be going for vacation together next week."

"That confident, huh?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, forcing a smile that elicited a lilt in her voice.

"So, you figured out the riddle?" he asked nonchalantly.

"What? You're not watching us this time?" Stephanie joked.

"Talk, don't lecture," the man warned.

"I am standing before the Parthenon in Athens. What's our next move?"

"You're wrong. That's not the answer."

"What! Yes, it is!" the brunette forcefully responded, trying to control the screech in her voice.

"No," he adamantly replied and hung up.

"Well?" Therese asked as Stephanie folded the phone.

"We're wrong," she whispered, not even lifting her eyes to meet Therese's.

"What do you mean 'we're wrong'?"

"That's what he said."

"But we can't be," Therese replied, running a hand through her hair and twisting about to look around her.

"We have to start over," Stephanie informed the wild-eyed blonde. "He wouldn't even talk to me. We'll just keep trying until he gets fed up with us and tells us more."

"Yeah," Therese replied, running a hand exasperatedly through her hair again.

"Wanna look around?"

"Might as well enjoy what we can while we can…that is, if we can."

The two women spent a few hours wondering the Acropolis—the hill on which the Parthenon sat—and the surrounding area that contained Mars Hill and two theatres—one of which Yanni played in. However, the idea that they were in the wrong place kept niggling at them and they gave up on exploring Athens and returned to the hotel.

While Therese was taking a long, hot shower to clear her mind, Stephanie was separating out all the information they had so far. When the blonde entered the bedroom all pink and in a white terry cloth robe, she found one bed covered in papers that the VP had organized chronologically and by information, very impressed with her work. Hours later, they still hadn't made headway. Stephanie made them both a cup of coffee from the little machine on top of the refrigerator and they carried them to the roof.

On all occasions, they had stuck with hotel names they recognized, which usually meant expensive and prime location. This time, they could view the Acropolis from the roof of their hotel. "God, it's beautiful," Stephanie sighed.

"I hope you get back here soon with Shawn," Therese sincerely replied.

"You don't want to come back?"

"Well, given the fact that we may not have any money left and I need a babysitter for however long we're gone—don't say it, I've used Sharon and Joe way too much—I doubt I'll ever be back here."

"I wish everything didn't shut down so early," Stephanie sighed, glancing toward the shop district.

"But you have to admit, it would be nice to not have to work past five or six. Kinda like the cultures that always close down for a nap in the afternoon—now that's the way to go," Therese replied with a giggle.

They both sipped their coffee in silence while leaning on the balcony railing. "Supposedly the military kept their explosives in the Parthenon. So, when it was hit, it basically blew the Parthenon up," Stephanie said, needing to just be able to talk.

"That's terrible. I bet it was absolutely beautiful in its original condition." Therese began to sip her coffee again but practically choked when the epiphany hit. "No, no, no!" she shouted. "Of course, we're in the wrong place! God, how could I be so stupid! We've go to go!" She grabbed Stephanie by the arm and began dragging her towards the elevator.

"What?" the brunette asked, jerking her coffee away from her body to keep it from spilling on either of them as Therese pulled her towards the elevator.

"Come on."

"Calm down and explain it to me," Stephanie calmly but forcefully said as she came to a screeching halt.

"The dodo said that it was the original glory. Your theory about them being back home was right. See, Nashville, Tennessee, was called 'The Athens of the South.' The city built the Parthenon as we _originally _think it was supposed to look like. Plus, the cell phones were purchased in Berry Hill, a suburb type town of Nashville."

"Compared to where we're at, that's your own backyard," Stephanie replied, disbelieving of where they would need to go.

Therese smacked her forehead. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"You're not the FBI and I specialize in wrestling of all things. These idiots designed this game this way. Easy enough to figure out but hard enough to torture us. Unless they're physically torturing Kevin and Shawn, _this _is about us," Stephanie replied, gesturing at both her and her friend.

"I can only think of two people who would hate us both—Eric Bischoff and Colin Jenkins."

"Colin? But he's still in jail," Steph replied with a quizzical look on her face.

"I know. He just had his parole hearing and no one notified us if he was released, which they would have had he been, and, if he had escaped, the prison would have gotten in touch and police surveillance set up on our houses."

"Yeah…but you left out my dad and Sable," the brunette added, ticking the two people off on her hands.

"Sable's still too busy playing house with Brock Lesnar and your dad would _want _us to know he was behind it."

"Very true."

"All we can do is fly home and show up in Nashville, no matter who it is," Therese responded, folding her arms across her chest in thought.

* * *

"Do we know what today is?" Shawn asked from where he lay supine across the desk, his legs dangling across the edge from the knees. He looked like an extremely bored child wasting time. 

"I think it's Sunday."

"Ah," Michaels mused but there was a long silence that followed. "I don't suppose we'll be going to Vengeance tonight."

"Nope," Kevin replied. He too was lounged out but on the floor with his hands behind his head.

"Did I ever thank you for agreeing to be my second?"

"What? In a match that never happened?" Kevin asked with a derisive laugh.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to agree to it, whether or not it happened. I still think that was a brilliant idea," Shawn replied, tilting his head sideways to look at his best friend on the floor.

"Yeah, if it had worked," Nash responded with the same contemptuous tone.

"It would have," Shawn replied in a sort of masculine whine.

"I don't wrestle anymore."

"You've still got one good match in you."

"I don't doubt you would have beaten Chris Jericho. Look at his second—Ric Flair. I could have easily taken him with one hand tied behind my back," Kevin replied, kicking the desk and receiving an apologetic look from Shawn.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad that those two are all Triple H's got. I'm surprised he took your idea instead of making it a tag-team match."

"It sold," Kevin blatantly explained. "It was a great plug for his match against me at Vengeance. Come on, a duel but the duelists choose wrestling instead of guns. The second only steps in if the duelist is pinned. How novel can you get?"

"Yeah, well, we were stuck here on Monday. The contracts were signed and we were counted out. We could have been on our deathbeds and we would have been counted out anyhow." Shawn sighed but then continued. "We'll never get tonight's match back. Hunter's gonna be general manager for another year. If I wasn't worried about what Steph's going through, that would be what I'm most mad about for being in here."

"I still can't believe he put his position on the line," Kevin replied, shaking his head.

"I can taste exactly what I wanted to do with that position," Shawn dreamily said, smacking his lips.

"And you don't think I wasn't dreaming about throwing my weight around? Funny how I married a bodyguard and now I'm _your_ bodyguard. Tell me again how you got the match to be general manager and not me?" Kevin asked and laughed. "Afterall, _I _was the one doing all the threatening when Lily was born."

"Hunter wouldn't give it up without a fight. You wanna fight him?" Shawn asked with a bit of defensiveness to his voice.

"Not one-on-one. We've been down this road before. I was only joking. Besides, I was only threatening him because I could."

"Sorry," Shawn apologized. "It's that I'm so damn frustrated with being in here. Dammit, I love you and all but I can only take so much of just lying around, sleeping, crapping, and talking."

"Well, after tonight, you better get used to it for two months. Not only do you not get general manager but the both of us to get lie around, sleep, crap, and talk for two months worth of suspension," Nash replied, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Hey, at least that sleeping and lying around is with our wives," Shawn added, sitting up and grinning at Kevin. "Sorry, but you're a poor substitute for a bed buddy."

"Like you're any better?" he replied with his own mocking smile.


	17. High Noon, er, Midnight

**_Chapter XVII: High Noon, er, Midnight_**

No flights were readily available and the four hour flight into Frankfurt, Germany, for a layover, and the eight hour flight into Atlanta put them climbing onto Atlanta's mass transit at ten o'clock that night. "Do you realize that I'm stuck with Triple H for another year as General Manager?" Stephanie asked when the train lurched forward and knocked her out of her jet lag stupor.

"What?" Therese sleepily muttered.

"I haven't thought about it since I called them in sick. If Shawn won tonight at the pay-per-view, he would be General Manager for a year and that doofus signed a contract without reading every word that said if he didn't show for the match, he lost and there would be no rematch. Of course, he didn't think he'd miss it."

"Great," the blonde sarcastically replied. "I'm sure my dumb husband didn't help him read it. General Manager? Really?" She ran a hand over her face. "Next time Kevin shows Dinah any of his matches, I think I may sit in." Since RAW was live and anything could happen, Therese TiVo'd the show and let Kevin sit down with Dinah to watch what they had agreed she could see.

"Yeah," Stephanie wearily replied. There was a long silence and then she asked, "Are you gonna pick up the girls anyhow tonight?"

"The first thing you've got to learn as a new mother is never wake a sleeping child. Trust me, it's better not to get them started again if they're down. But, no, I'm gonna leave them with Sharon. I told her I'm just dropping in to pick up some more things for me and Kevin and I'd stop by early in the morning to see them."

"Good call," Stephanie agreed. "I hope I can make it to the bed before I fall asleep."

"Me too."

And that was the truth. Therese fell asleep in the shower and it took the freezing cold water to wake her enough to get out and fall into bed with wet hair. Stephanie didn't even care if she was clean or not. A fresh pair of pajamas did it for her and she was out. Unfortunately, they didn't get near as long enough of sleep as needed to get over jet lag.

At barely dawn, Therese was greeted by the beautiful sounds of her dog barking a welcome at Sharon's and Joe's. The poor beagle looked pathetic but she was alive and home. Joe had picked her up three days after Therese had brought her in to the vet. Her chest had been shaved to stitch up the wound and now sported a red scar. She was still wearing a cone to keep her from picking at the irritation. Her leg was in a cast but she thumped in Therese's arms nonetheless. The woman wanted to hug the poor, little creature to her but was afraid she would hurt Ruby's ribs, which would take much longer to heal than the cut had.

"Momma?" she heard a small, sleepy voice behind her. "Why are you crying?"

Therese hadn't realized that she had been. She carefully put Ruby down and held her arms open for Dinah. It had only been a week and one day since Kevin and Shawn had been abducted but she had realized in one instant how much she had missed her family—her dog, her husband, and, mostly importantly, her children.

Stephanie was going to stay in the car but Therese argued, saying that Sharon would see her and then ask a barrage of questions she couldn't answer. The brunette was crying silent tears as well. She had spent much more time away from Shawn than a week before but this was killing her. Not only was she upset that this quaint, picturesque family possibly could never be put back together again but that she may never have the opportunity to have the same. She reached up to rub a hand across her stomach. She needed to stop at a drugstore along the way and pick up a pregnancy test. She wanted to know now and she had to keep it a secret. Therese wouldn't let her come along if she thought she was pregnant and she was going to be there to retrieve Shawn.

"Did you find Daddy and Uncle Shawn?" Dinah quietly asked.

"Not yet, baby," she whispered, hoping Sharon wouldn't hear her above the sizzle of bacon on the stove. "But soon. Don't tell anybody about it. They might hear about it on TV and you wouldn't want Triple H to hear about it."

"Oh, no," she replied with a gasp. Therese hated doing that to her but the little girl could easily open her mouth and she couldn't be explaining this right now to her adopted aunt and uncle. If Sharon found out, she'd call in the FBI, CIA, Navy, Marines, _and _the Coast Guard. Dinah wasn't allowed to watch but only a little bit of wrestling and she understood that Triple H hated Daddy.

"It's early. Cartoons aren't even on yet. Why don't you go back to bed?"

"Are you leaving _now_?" the little brunette asked in a small, whiny voice.

"No, she's not," Dinah's surrogate grandmother interrupted sternly. "She's goin' to stay for breakfast."

"Aunt Sharon, I told you you didn't have to cook for us."

"The bacon's almost done. You're staying," Sharon replied, a stern hand on her hip.

"Can I stay with you 'til then?" the four-year-old asked.

"Sure, baby. Let me go see Lily for a few minutes and then we'll eat together."

Without direction, the little girl headed straight for her booster seat and situated it in her chair at the table. "I can only hope my kid's that well-behaved," Stephanie said with a laugh as they headed down the darkened hall.

"Oh, she's not fully awake yet. Give her time and you'll want to pay someone to take her."

Therese flipped on the small lamp in Sharon and Joe's bedroom where they kept Lily's bassinet when she stayed with them. It was Monday morning and Joe always went down to the car repair shop early where he used to work. Even though he was retired, he still had to do something with his hands and that was what he enjoyed most. Lily didn't even flinch from the light, more evidence she was taking after her father. She could sleep through a tornado and Therese was grateful for life's simple pleasures. The blonde stared at her daughter for a moment and then ran a finger over the soft, silky skin of the little hand and then her rose petal cheek before giving her forehead a soft kiss. Stephanie had hung back but now couldn't help but stroke the petal soft skin as well. "See, you aren't a bad mother. You're not as selfish as you think," Steph whispered.

"Let's eat and get out of here. It's a long drive," Therese replied, ignoring the comment for fear of the tears that were welling up inside. Today was another important day and she didn't need her emotions overwhelming her.

Dinah was practically falling back asleep at the table and chose to climb up into her mother's lap instead of go back to bed, claiming she could stay awake…she didn't. Stephanie kept up the conversation, elaborating on what the couples had been doing on the road to keep Sharon from asking questions, while Therese ate around her daughter. When they could stay no longer, the blonde carried Dinah back to the guest room, followed by Sharon, and put her to bed. Back in the hall, Kevin's aunt stopped her.

"Something's going on and I think I know what it is," Sharon abruptly said, her voice calm and steady but warning. Therese could only blink at her. "I don't pass judgment on people and, if your _preferences_," she stopped and looked in the direction of the kitchen where Stephanie waited, "have changed since you married my nephew, that's y'all's business. Just don't string him along and don't you dare abandon your babies."

"Aunt Sharon, that's not what's going on."

"Then explain it," the older woman demanded.

"I can't right now," Therese replied, her eyes downcast.

"And why not?"

"Because I _can't_."

"I trust you," Kevin's aunt began in a wary tone, "but don't do anything to make me wrong. I still mean what I said." Sharon knew something was going on. First, she assumed that Kevin was sleeping around on Therese. He had done that before with a previous girlfriend and his ex-wife had suspected him of the same. Even though he was in prime position to do so, he claimed his innocence on that one and she truly believed him. Now, she suspected Therese of sleeping around but with another woman—Stephanie McMahon-Michaels. They had seemed too close within the past week for her liking. But, she trusted Therese with her life, and, if they weren't having an affair together on their husbands, something else was going on. She could feel it in her bones like she could feel nasty weather coming.

Therese was pumping gas into the SUV when Stephanie saw her chance. "I'm gonna get a coke and use the bathroom. You want anything?"

"No, thanks. I'm fine."

"Alright," Stephanie replied and headed for the convenience store. Once inside, she surreptitiously glanced over her shoulder to see Therese still holding the gas nozzle. She grabbed the pregnancy test, paid for it, and hurried to the bathroom. She didn't bother with the directions as this process had become second nature by now. Time had never moved so slow as she watched the seconds tick by on her watch. When the required time was up, she reached for the test, scrunched her eyes shut, pulled it to her, and opened one eye and then the other.

The banging on the other side of the door startled her. "Steph, you in there? You okay?"

"Yeah," she called back, wrapping the test up in the box it came in and shoving it in her purse.

"You've been in here forever. Everything okay?" Therese called.

"Yeah," the brunette answered, pulling the bathroom door open. "I wanted some candy but took so much time trying to decide that I gave up."

"Did you get your coke?"

"Nah, but I don't think I want it anymore."

"Ready to get back on the road then?" Therese asked, jerking her head toward the door. Stephanie nodded and they pushed through the double glass doors for the car.

The place was eerie, foreboding, and quite formidable in the dark. Floodlights illuminated the front of the Nashville Parthenon but did very little for the interior. A few steps inside, the bright lights faded and the women could only recognize each other's faces if they were only steps apart.

Earlier in the day, they had arrived not long after the Parthenon had opened and began to canvas the area. While the site itself was magnificent in its re-creation of the Parthenon, it paled in comparison to the decimated, original structure. Therese spent little time in admiration as she scouted out the area and then chose a more secluded place to make the phone call. Stephanie was by her side as always. The old Stephanie would have been pissed that Therese was making all the calls but she learned the hard way to let the expert do her job. Plus, she didn't want the responsibility to fall on her if things went wrong.

"We're in the right place this time. What now?" Therese barked.

"I have to applaud you. That was quick," the man on the other end of the end said in an approving manner. "You _are _in the right place."

This time Therese didn't make the mistake of looking around her but she did have on her sunglasses. She lifted her head in a cocky manner and began to scan the crowd, her eyes hidden by the glasses, but there was no one she recognized. "What now?" she repeated.

"The transaction goes down tonight. You bring the account numbers and we'll bring your husbands."

"Where and when?"

"In the Parthenon. Midnight," the abductor brusquely answered.

"You know they close at seven," Therese replied, although the statement was more of a question.

"You're a security agent. You'll figure out a way to get in."

And she had. The two women scouted out the area as inconspicuously as possible, although Therese was, once again, more of the expert. Actually, security systems were more her specialty than dealing with abductors or threatening calls. She took note of the fence system and the position of motion detectors. They wouldn't be coming in through the front door.

They spent the afternoon shopping for dark clothing and, the hardest part, gloves in July. After an out of town trip for wirecutters—they didn't need to be seen in any local hardware stores on security cameras—they cut the chainlink fence at the back of the property. The sensors ran along the top and Therese began to rethink her own fence system.

"Maybe we _should_ turn this over to the FBI," Stephanie muttered as she crawled through the hole on her knees.

"_Now_ you say something," Therese replied.

"You would've done it?"

"Probably not," she responded, bouncing up and down with energy. "If this doesn't go as we hope, I promise, we'll call in the authorities somehow, someway, and not endanger Kevin and Shawn." She looked around carefully and then turned to Stephanie. "Stay in my footsteps. Once we're in the Parthenon, we're safe until we leave security system wise."

Stephanie bit her lip as she wanted to respond, _You've told me that already_, but she nodded and then followed Therese. They slunk through the park, illuminated only by the stars, until they reached the front of the building. There were no guards on duty but the floodlights would give them away if they dawdled. The lights were so bright that no one figured a person would risk going in through the front if they had already broken into the site. Therese made the dash inside and Stephanie followed five seconds later. The blonde squeezed the other woman's hand and withdrew her Berretta. Stephanie followed suit and removed the borrowed 9mm from Therese's other shoulder holster that she was wearing. Apparently, the holster was specially made for the agent or the agent was somehow just shaped right because the holster pinched and chafed her own body.

"Put the guns down," a voice called that Therese knew she should know.

"Show yourself," she returned. A figure stepped out from behind a column and slowly advanced as did Stephanie and Therese. The brunette's sharper eyes saw the man's face first but, within a split second, she heard Therese gasp and saw her hands slightly tremble. However, the woman quickly recovered and stated, "Show me Kevin and Shawn."

"Put the guns down."

"When we see Kevin and Shawn," Therese demanded.

Dylan Bergeron pointed to two columns opposite of each other in the structure. Now, the women could see the slumped figures. "Shawn!" Stephanie shouted but Therese shushed her. Shawn and Kevin both moved, evidence that they were at least still alive.

"Put the gun down," the agent ordered Stephanie softly and set the Beretta at her feet. The VP hesitated but, with Therese's nod, she laid hers beside the other one.

"Step back," Bergeron commanded. Both women took a few steps back and Bergeron immediately came forward, nudging the guns behind him. He was within feet of them. "Give me the account numbers with the PIN numbers."

"They're on a piece of paper in my pocket. We put everything in one offshore account so it couldn't be traced. Now, I'm going to reach into the pocket of my jacket and get them," Therese slowly and carefully stated as if he was a child. The two women had not been happy about going that route but they couldn't get any new account anywhere that allowed for immediate transfer capabilities.

"If you pull anything, I'll shoot _her_," he said, waving the gun at Stephanie.

Therese knew Dylan was left-handed and that he couldn't fire a gun accurately with his right. She held the paper out towards his left hand and, as he took it, she grabbed his wrist, jerking him forward and flipping him over her back. She bent over for her gun but a shot was fired at her feet, sending chunks of marble flying up around her. Bergeron was back up and he grabbed her around the waist, throwing her forcefully to the floor. He pinned her upper arms down with his knees, keeping her from moving. She kicked her feet but then realized where the shot had come from—the second abductor was there as well. From her position on the marble, she saw on her periphery another man holding Stephanie around the waist with one arm and twisting her neck with the other.

"Stop!" Therese shouted at the top of her lungs. "She's pregnant!"

A surprised look passed over Stephanie's face but was quickly gone as gasped for breath when the man let her neck go.

TBC…


	18. PIN Personal Idiot Number

_**Chapter XVIII: PIN—Personal Idiot Number**_

"Hand me that piece of paper," Dylan ordered Stephanie, never taking his eyes off of Therese as he pointed down. "Let her go," he said to man holding her, "She's too chicken to do anything."

The brunette bristled at the comment but she knew she wouldn't try anything. She quickly reached down and handed him the slip with the account numbers on it. The second abductor then grabbed her again and put his gun to her temple. It was still hot from the fired shot and she jerked her head away. "What?" the man growled. "I thought you would like it the second time around." Stephanie twisted her head up to see Colin Jenkins, her stalker from almost six years ago, the man who had no qualms about shooting Therese.

"H-how?" she stammered.

"Shut her up," Dylan ordered and he pulled out his cellphone and began dialing numbers. "My Cayman Island account," he said down to Therese, who was still pinned under him. She concentrated on his fingers as Bergeron pressed numbers on the phone. When this was over, she would have his account number and his PIN. She _would_ get their money back…and then some. If she couldn't remember the numbers, she'd at least know based on his finger movements.

"You really sound sick," Therese asked, attempting to get him to talk. She had a thousand questions of how and why.

Dylan faked a cough. "Jamie's stupid enough to fall for it…or maybe I'm that good of an actor."

"Doubt it," Therese muttered.

"What?"

She chose not to repeat her snide comment and change directions. "How did you know our account balances?"

"Let's say Jenkins found another criminal hobby in prison."

"Then why not transfer the money yourself?" she asked.

"Because we needed the PIN numbers," Bergeron replied in a condescending manner.

"You do realize how redundant that is? PIN stands for personal identification number," she snapped back with a desire to annoy him.

"Shut up," he growled and raised his hand to threaten. She said nothing else and repeated the numbers in her head that he had already entered.

When the transfer had taken place, he clapped his phone shut and stared down at her with a wicked smile. "Why?" she simply asked.

"I was paid handsomely by a third party and now I get your money," he replied as if making small talk but then his tone angrily changed. "You're the bitch that got me fired from the best job of my life. If you had kept your mouth shut in the investigation, I wouldn't have been let go. Then, I get hired on again and you treat me like I'm pondscum. Yeah, you made nice, inviting me over for dinner. Your husband's a better person than you are. At least he tried."

"That's why you agreed to do this? That's so childish," she replied, realizing that he would be one of the best people to break through her security system. This was part of exactly what he done for Pendleton in the firm and what he was 're-learning.' He must have found a way to access every client's system, including hers.

"Not when I walk away with your money, her money," he indicated Stephanie, "payment for the job and the satisfaction of torturing you and Stephanie. I'll be kicking back in the Caymans in less than twenty-four hours and I'll never have to lift a finger to work again. This, uh, _third _party knew I was only one of two people who hated you enough to do this."

"You went all the way to Istanbul to do that?"

"I have friends. I called them and they rerouted the call back to Atlanta. Brilliant, don't you think?" Dylan flashed her a grin, one that had melted many women's hearts. "I can't believe you didn't like my clues. I thought you'd enjoy a trip down memory lane." Therese could only stare in perplexity. "What? You didn't find in your research that I was a senior in the same high school when you were a freshman."

She tried to squeeze her hands into fists to control her rage but the tendons wouldn't work from where he had her pinned, that is, if she could have made a fist from her fingers growing numb. She couldn't believe she had missed that. Only his record from the time he was fired by Pendleton was a concern. "And asshole up there? How'd he get out?" she asked, having to change the conversation before her rage exploded into a major migraine.

"He made parole," he replied, as if she should have known.

"And I'm sure _you _know why we weren't informed," Therese sarcastically asked.

"I took the notice from your mailbox and Colin lifted hers. Once again, brilliant, don't you think?" There was that same smile.

"I guess he's skipping the country, too?"

"Exactly."

"And what if I call the FBI in to stop you?" the blonde asked with a cocky grin.

"By the time you convince them of what happened, we'll be out of here. And if you do and we get arrested, when we get out of jail, you better be watching your backs every second of the day and, this time, I won't stop at your husband, but I'll target your children. It'll be more fun than sending you around the world and listening to you squirm." He took a big breath. "Now, I'm going to get up from here and you're not going to move until we are out of that door. Then, you're going to wait thirty minutes before you attempt to leave the site."

Therese would always look back on this moment as probably the stupidest move she ever made, even stupider than when the golf pro that she had been escorting was almost stabbed. When Dylan rose and backed away from her, a police siren sounded and he glanced in the direction of the noise. She drove her foot into his crotch as hard she could, sending him backward, clutching his groin, and dropping the gun. It was too dark to see their guns but the snubnose attached to her calf would do just as well. She snatched the weapon from its hiding place but hardly got it aimed when Stephanie was thrown across their path. The brunette slid into one of the columns and Therese aimed her gun at Jenkins. His weapon was trained on her as well. "I've shot you once, Blair, and I'll do it again," the tattooed man snarled.

"And don't think I won't return the favor," she quickly replied and began backing up where she could watch both of the abductors. Stephanie hadn't been knocked out and she raised herself to a sitting position against the column to wait. Therese hardly knew what move she was going to make next. There were several intense minutes in which Jenkins and Therese squared off and the only sounds were Dylan's moans. Just when she thought her head would explode from the tension, she saw a dark figure dragging itself across the floor behind Colin. From the shape, she hoped it was Shawn. When he was close enough, he violently rolled into the back of Jenkins legs. Therese dropped to the floor in case the gun fired but the man only fell backward over Shawn. There were four places she needed or wanted to be—taking Jenkins' gun, protecting Shawn or Stephanie, stopping Dylan from recovering, and going to Kevin.

The only person conscious enough to do anything was Jenkins. So Therese pounced on him to find his gun but she found herself under his weight. From the way he wrestled with her, he didn't have his weapon. "Stephanie!" she screamed, having no idea Shawn had been nailed in the gut with a flying elbow and was attempting to recover. "Get the guns!"

Stephanie looked around her. There were a total of five guns lying around the floor in the dark and she couldn't see any of them. When she heard gurgling sounds that sounded like someone was being strangled, she realized what Jenkins was doing to Therese. Hurrying over, she accidentally kicked one of the guns and then grabbed it. By the time she had it aimed at Jenkins, a recovered Shawn had his arms looped around Jenkins neck and was pulling him off of Therese, who was gasping for air. She immediately struggled up and rasped, "Have you got the guns?"

"I only found one," Stephanie replied right before she was knocked into Therese. The brunette flew across the floor and the weight on her tried to wrestle the gun away. She bit into the man's shoulder as hard as possible and he howled back, falling away from her. Therese was now up and she stomped on Bergeron's chest, from where he had pulled away from the VP. "Here," Steph heavily breathed and tapped Therese's leg from where she lay with the only gun anyone could find in the dark. The agent readily took it and pointed it squarely in Dylan's face.

"You won't kill me," he laughed.

"No, but don't think I won't," she had to stop and take a gulp of air around her dry, pulsing throat, "be anything like your partner and put a hole through any other body part. Steph, help Shawn."

"Already on my way," she replied through her teeth as she pulled herself up from the floor.

"No, take this," the blonde hoarsely stated and carefully handed the gun off. "Shoot'im if he moves." Therese was only steps away from where Shawn and Colin were still wrestling. A well-placed kick stopped Jenkins long enough for her to pull Shawn off of him. His wrists were bound and he was limited in what he could do. Both of them would have wrestled until exhaustion or until Colin finally got the better of him. "Shawn, find the guns," she ordered, not aware of how much of a beating he had already taken but only aware of the duct tape across his mouth. In one swift motion, she ripped it off and he howled in pain. "Sorry," she muttered, turning away from him and to her target.

Therese could smell revenge and she landed a few kicks to Jenkins ribs. She jerked him up by the front of his shirt and punched his face until she felt a presence pulling at her. "Therese!" Shawn called. "THERESE!" he shouted and, this time, he got her attention. She stared at him as if she couldn't comprehend where she was at or who he was. "I've got him now," he said and indicated her Beretta.

"Police! Freeze!" Five heads jerked to where they heard the shout to find several flashlights trained on them. "Put the guns down!" Shawn and Stephanie looked down at their quarry and then back up at the flashlights before carefully putting the weapons down and away from them. Police began to swarm the area. Therese and Shawn were pulled away from Jenkins and Stephanie away from Bergeron. The security agent began to immediately protest but other police personnel threaded through them and began to cuff the culprits. Stephanie and Therese were stunned that the police were here and no one was arresting them. Shawn assumed that the girls had set it up.

The police who had pulled them away were now checking on them but Therese shoved herself away and headed straight for Kevin, whom no official had seen yet in the inky blackness. She dropped down on her knees and pulled him to her for a long, hard hug. She then cradled his face in her hands, cooing over the bruises on his face as some kind person shone a flashlight over them. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" she asked, barely above a whisper as her throat was slightly swelling, and then realized he too had a piece of duct tape across his mouth. Her hands hovered over his face while she tried to determine the best way to rip it off. When he made a sound of impatience, she muttered an apology and ripped. "You okay?"

"Just tell me," he took a painful breath, "you didn't put my baby in hockey lessons?"

Therese laughed between the tears and pulled him to her again. He was going to be okay if that was all he was concerned about. "No, sweetheart," she said with a laugh that hurt.

He moved his bound arms against her. "Can we get these off?" he feebly asked.

"Of course, baby." She started pulling at the plastic ties and realized they weren't going anywhere.

"I'll get something, ma'am," an officer said over her shoulder but Therese wasn't listening. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her keychain, finding the fingernail clippers and beginning to clip away at the plastic. She headed for his feet, dusty and cold, to cut the ties there as well and realized that Shawn's hadn't been tied.

"How'd you get so lucky to be tied?" she asked, caring less about the dirt as she rubbed his cold toes.

"Y'all got here before they could," he replied and she pulled him to his feet, wrapping her arms around him and caring less that he smelled like he hadn't bathed in over a week—which was exactly true.

"The ambulance is almost here," a policeman interrupted.

"I'm fine. I'll be alright," Kevin protested. "Sounds like you need to go as well," he added, softly rubbing his knuckles against her throat.

"Don't pay attention to him," she said to the officer, "he's delusional."

"I've been through worse."

"Shut up," Shawn interrupted. "If I have to go, you have to go."

The couple looked up to Stephanie and Shawn supporting each other. When the police had cuffed and led Bergeron away, the Michaelses had rushed towards each other. Shawn dropped his arms, hands still bound, around Stephanie and held her to him. "Are you really pregnant?" She was already crying silent, emotional tears and now she broke out into sobs as she nodded. "Really?" he excitedly asked.

"Yeah," she barely managed through gasping breaths.

"I don't believe it," he replied and pulled her closer. "Oh, if you're pregnant, we've gotta get you to the hospital. I couldn't see anything but it sounded like you took some lumps. We need to get you checked out."

Surprisingly, she nodded but then responded, putting her hands up to his face, "Looks like you could get checked out too." She ran a hand lightly over a knot that forming on his forehead above the temple. "They didn't…do anything…to you?" she asked, hardly able to voice her question.

"No, princess. Just a good beating. Kevin got it worse. It's nothing compared to some of the things we've been through," he replied with a soft laugh.

"What happened?" she asked, softly running her hand over his cheek.

"Well, the _first_ time we escaped, he got pistol-whipped."

"What?"

"And when they started tying us up to bring us here, I got this really stupid idea—probably the stupidest thing I've ever done—that we could get away. Long story short, I got Kevin beaten," Shawn explained. Later, he and Therese would laugh at their comments, talking about the stupidest move they ever made and joking about how they were made for each other if they were partners.

"You smell horrible," Stephanie commented, "but I don't care because you're back with me."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly the Ritz," he bitterly replied, more to himself than to her.

"You can tell me all about it later but, for now, we need to find something to get these off," Stephanie stated, reaching behind her to lovingly caress his hands.

"Looks like Therese's got something," he replied and they had then interrupted Kevin and Therese arguing about Kevin going to the hospital.

The agent carefully clipped the plastic ties as one of the officers announced that the ambulances had arrived. As they all began to carefully make their way to the front steps of the Parthenon, Stephanie leaned close to Therese. "How'd you know I was pregnant?"

"You are?" the blonde gasped.

"But you said it?" the mom-to-be asked.

"I just said it to keep them from hurting you. You really are?" Stephanie nodded and Therese immediately let go of Kevin to hug the brunette to her.

Nash only blinked as he watched the only overtly girlish act his wife ever made—she was hugging Stephanie, squealing, and bouncing up and down. "What did you say to my wife to turn her into a sixteen-year-old?"

"They're gonna have a baby," Therese squealed.

"Know I'm mentally hugging you from here," Kevin said to Stephanie, massaging his ribs.

"Thank you for the congratulations," she replied with a smirk.

"Wait," Therese suddenly said, bowing up. "You _knew _you were pregnant and you came along with me?"

"Well, I really didn't know," Stephanie said and then pulled Therese in close to whisper, "The last test was positive but they're not always right. Then I didn't start this month and I had to know. If it makes you feel better, I didn't know until we were almost here."

"But you suspected it and you still came along?"

"Hey, princess," Shawn interrupted, "you really need to get to the hospital."

"This conversation is not over," Therese said through her teeth but then genuinely smiled, "but that doesn't mean I ain't excited for you."

TBC…


	19. Single Parents Need Not Apply

_**Chapter XIX: Single Parents Need Not Apply**_

Therese had learned with the Eric Bischoff/Colin Jenkins incident that, until one of them confessed, they wouldn't know who the third party was. The Nashville police were aware by proxy of every word said during the confrontation. Between the four of them, the conversation, if it could be called that, was pieced together completely. Kevin and Shawn had overheard snippets of conversations, which explained how Dylan and Colin had gotten into the site with two other men wearing only undershirts and boxers. Gia LaGuardia was Dylan's ex-girlfriend and he had somehow ingratiated himself back into her life. Later, Therese would recognize her as the woman whose address she had found as one of his references and had wanted to call before they left for Turkey. It took a long talk from Stephanie to keep the agent from beating herself up for not making that call. Gia worked at the Parthenon in security—she and Dylan had met through the security service in Chattanooga. While she was on vacation and visiting her family, Dylan had stolen her keys and gained entry into the park. Nash would have busted through the door if physically capable when he heard them laughing about how Therese would never know the security system was turned off.

Neither Jenkins nor Bergeron were talking whatsoever, lawyer present or not. The FBI had been called in and the Atlanta police department informed as well. All guns had been found, confiscated, and would be returned to the rightful owners that were not criminals when the investigation was complete.

The four of them had been questioned at the hospital. The cuts on Shawn's wrists from where he had tried to pull the ties loose were infected but would heal soon enough, bandaged to look like he had committed suicide. None of the blows to his head showed any significant damage. He wanted to laugh at how they were worried about a punch to the face when he had taken chairshots to the head more times than he could count. Kevin had a cracked rib, a nasty bump from the pistol, and several bruises to the face from the last fight. Stephanie's body was more jarred than anything from the two falls. The doctors began running tests on her immediately but there was nothing to indicate the baby was in danger, especially since she was only a few weeks pregnant. They all exhaled a sigh of relief from that report. Therese refused to be checked—her injuries were only superficial, bruises to her arms from Dylan pinning her down, a banged elbow from when she had acted as Stephanie's pillow when the idiot had pushed the brunette into her, and a bruised and slightly swollen throat—however, Kevin practically had to hold her down for a once-over and a satisfactory report from a medical assistant.

The moment Therese got her hands on a pen and piece of paper, she jotted down the numbers she could remember and the PIN to Dylan's account. When all the excitement died down, she began trying to get the money transferred back into the temporary account she and Stephanie had set up. After three attempts, the money was back in the right account. She would have taken more as retribution but that was all that was in there. "Take that FBI," she triumphantly said as she ended the call. "Single parents need not apply—ha!"

Closing her phone, her mood changed and she wondered if maybe she should have just let Jenkins and Bergeron go. Kevin and Shawn would still be home with them and she would still have been able to access the account like she just did. Now, the two men would be going away to prison but not for life. That meant that Bergeron could make good on his threats towards her children. What harm would have come in just letting them go. Giving them paradise, albeit they might have to find work when they get down there, didn't seem fair but neither did having her girls threatened nor the child that Stephanie carried, not counting anymore that could be born between now and the end of the culprits' prison terms. There was nothing she could do about it now.

All that was left was to determine how the Nashville police knew about the transaction, who was involved, and who to arrest. Therese couldn't get anyone to talk to her but, late that night, more nearer to dawn than anything, a rookie cop handed her a note that said to call Sharon Johnson. Somehow, Therese knew she had her answer as she dialed her cellphone.

"Aunt Sharon?"

"Is everybody okay?" the older woman breathed.

"Yes, we're all fine," she rasped in response.

"Oh, thank god," she exhaled and Therese thought she heard the woman suppress a sob. Sharon was a rock and no one could remember the last time they had publicly seen her cry. "You sound terrible."

"You know something that I don't," Therese continued, ignoring the comment. There was no point in freaking her out over the details. "I don't suppose it's too early in the morning for you to explain."

"Child, I've been up all night waiting to hear something. Wouldn't be the first time I've spent a sleepless night worrying about my family," she replied and began to explain.

Sharon had mulled over the things Therese had said before she dropped off the girls and the morning she had rushed through on her way to Nashville. The only person she knew would know more was Jamie Levenson. The man had a crush on her, fiancée or not, and Sharon knew he'd spill his guts if Therese's life was at stake. She marched herself straight into Levenson's office that afternoon and gave it to him grandmother-style. It took awhile to break him down but he finally gave her the full story, along with the warning about police interference. Sharon knew that she alone could not convince the police to do anything but Jamie had access to the notes left for the women, the reports on the security systems being re-installed, and the trace. Therese had kept him informed of their moves for fear that, if they were killed or left to die, no one would know where to look for them. He knew what would be happening at midnight that night in Nashville's Parthenon. Sharon whittled away at him even more and he agreed to take all that he knew to the city's police. He should have taken Sharon with him because it took much longer to convince them than it took for her to break him down. With minutes to spare, the police chief relented and sent officers out after Jamie threatened them with a lawsuit if anything did happen.

As Therese listened, Kevin slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. When Sharon finished, her niece-in-law humbly thanked her and asked if she wanted to talk to Kevin, to which she definitely did.

Therese slipped off to talk to the detective in control of the investigation. Poor guy had yet to leave the hospital. He had tried to get Therese to go down to the station to give her statement but she refused to leave her husband and her friends. He was wrapping everything up at the hospital and Therese wanted to talk to him one last time.

"So, you're gonna set up everything with the Atlanta and Stamford PDs for surveillance?" Therese asked. Without knowing who the third party involved was, the police departments agreed to put an unmarked car on each house in case anyone tried anything again for a while.

"Already made the calls. When you get back, they'll be waiting."

"The Michaelses are staying with us for a few days."

"Then, they'll need to call this number before they return home," the detective replied and pulled out a card, writing a name and number down before handing it to her.

"I guess _they're_ still not talking?"

"Not even after we tried to cut them a deal," the man sighed.

"Hmm…well, you know where to find all of us if you need us," she replied and then moved on to her next task—find the guys some clothes, other than hospital gowns, to wear home after the hospital let them take a shower there. "Twenty-four hour Wal-mart, here I come," she muttered to herself, making her second trip there—the first to locate her and Stephanie some black clothing—within the past eighteen hours.

* * *

"Everybody ready?" Therese asked, buckling up her seatbelt and reaching for the ignition. "It's gonna be a long trip."

"Maybe we should eat first," Kevin lazily said, lolling his head that was resting on the headrest towards her.

"What do you say, guys?" When nobody answered from the backseat, Therese twisted around to see Shawn and Stephanie making out. "Guys!" she yelled and their faces snapped away from each other. "You've already _made _the baby. You think we can discuss feeding it?"

"Um, yeah," Shawn vaguely replied, shifting uncomfortably to hide exactly how he was feeling about making babies. "What did you ask?"

"Kevin's hungry and I could do with something myself. What do you two think?"

"You know, I am getting kinda hungry…ravenous actually," Stephanie replied, peeling herself away from Shawn and leaning forward between the two front seats. Kevin didn't miss the hurt and disappointed look on his best friend's face. "I would love something greasy."

"Just something hot," Kevin mumbled. "I'm sick of cold food."

"Something breakfasty," Stephanie piped in again.

"You're not far enough along to blame cravings on your pregnancy," Therese replied, fixing Stephanie with a stare.

"Well, fine. I won't blame it on the baby but I would still love some Waffle House."

Therese was still playing 'mom' and glanced around at everybody to get their approval. When the guys nodded, she put the vehicle in gear and backed out of the parking spot. "First exit I see with Waffle House, I'm stopping."

Shawn and Stephanie didn't hear her as they returned to their favorite pastime. Therese wasn't even sure Kevin heard her as he seemed to have drifted off to sleep. No doubt this was her family as they should be when they would rather have food over getting home and into bed as soon as possible.

Half an hour later, Therese pulled into the parking lot of the greasiest place she had ever seen. Kevin snapped awake when he smelled the grease and Stephanie managed to extract herself from her husband. They all had one thing on their minds—food. Therese had just wanted her girls and her bed but suddenly she had her appetite back, having eaten little over the past week from adrenaline and worry.

The time was still early enough to put the two couples as the only customers with the exception of a lone man at the counter. At first, no one spoke—the women afraid of asking questions their husbands didn't want to answer and the men afraid of upsetting their wives with details. Milking the abductions for sympathy and pity would come later—they had a full three months to do it. Finally, Stephanie asked a question about the conversation she had overheard between Therese and the Nashville detective.

"Um, so did Detective Elliot say anything else about those, um, charges?" Steph tentatively asked, knowing she was about to open up a can of worms in front of Kevin and Shawn.

"Actually, no. We're not in the clear yet." The guys had assumed Stephanie was only speaking of Bergeron and Jenkins but Therese's response made their heads turn. "Elliot is supposed to be calling me later today and to let me know."

"You wanna tell us what you're talking about?" Kevin asked, trying to keep the concern out of his voice.

"Well, you see," Therese began, rolling her head to stretch her neck and then scratch the back of her head. They couldn't exactly hide something like this from their spouses. "We, me and Steph, could possibly have a criminal record." When Shawn started stammering, Therese began to explain. "We sort of broke into the Parthenon, so there's one count of B & E there. And then there's the chance of failure to report a crime. There's a few other things in connection to those two but this detective seems to think that the charges'll be dropped because of the circumstances."

"Like hell they better be dropped," Kevin exclaimed and Shawn seconded that.

"I just can't believe that they would arrest y'all when Jenkins and Bergeron kidnapped _us. _I still don't believe it was those guys," Shawn ranted, picking up his front and banging. "If only I had had two of these…"

"Yeah, I hear you wield a mean fork," Therese laughed, trying to ease the tension.

"I thought we had seen the last of Jenkins the day he was sentenced," Kevin said, fingering his fork as well now. "I told Shawn that I knew him but I just couldn't place him," he added in a frustrated tone.

"Try staring down the barrel of his gun—you'll never forget his face," Stephanie muttered and Shawn wrapped his arm around her to pull her close.

"The two of you have got to stop pissing off people, Therese," Shawn said with a crooked gin.

"Ha, ha, ha," she replied sarcastically.

"From the way Bergeron talks, somebody gets shot every time you're around. I think that's grounds for pissing people off, don't you, Kevin?"

Nash opened his mouth to reply but Therese began wagging her finger at him. "Uh, uh, uh, you have to go home with me, just remember that."

"I think I'll just stay out of this," he replied, holding his hands up but then wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "Hey, how's Evan, by the way?"

"Still with the wool pulled over his eyes," Therese answered into her husband's neck, unwilling for him to let her go—with the exception of the sight of the server on her way with their food.

"Think we can keep it that way with everybody?" Shawn asked, rearranging his glass and utensils to make room for his plate.

"That's our intention," Stephanie answered for everybody before they all forgot what they were talking about when the aroma of food hit them full force.

TBC…

**Author's Notes: **The epilogue coming up in the next chapter!


	20. Epilogue

_**Chapter XX: Epilogue**_

Police surveillance didn't include a trip into Alabama for a huge birthday bash. Since Dinah was born, Kevin and Shawn had stopped their 'everybody's invited, all you can drink' birthday parties. Therese and Stephanie, free from charges, decided the two guys could use another one of those 'get-togethers.' The closest RAW and SmackDown! were coming to Atlanta was Birmingham, Alabama, a week after the incident at the Nashville Parthenon. One of the staff offered up his home that sat on ten acres of land—a guarantee of no one calling the police on the raucous guests—and open invitations were issued. Therese was easily able to kiss her babies 'goodbye' this time because she'd be back that next evening to pick them up instead of being away for almost a week. The two couples, along with Dinah, Lily, and Ruby, had already spent a quiet evening as a family celebrating Uncle Shawn's and Daddy's birthdays. No one would take that away from the girls for a drinking party. Now, it was time for a grown-up party.

From the looks of all those present at the _beginning _of the party, everyone turned out, whether or not they particularly liked Shawn and Kevin. There were the few who wouldn't pee on them if they were on fire who stayed away and that's the way they preferred it. Stephanie had brought along non-alcoholic champagne to celebrate. She wasn't going to take any risks and was playing everything by the book with her pregnancy—as everyone agreed she should. The princess of wrestling had set up court with her husband and was chattering away with whoever happened to drop by. Therese and Kevin had their own visitors but not like the golden couple but they could care less as well.

As well as another guy present… Evan was hanging out on the fringes of a group that had the Undertaker in the middle of it. He still held the same fascination for the American Bad Ass, even though he had spent a lot of time with the man since first meeting him years ago. He poised himself carefully to look like he fit in, holding his virgin daiquiri like the other guys in the group and mimicking all their other movements. Therese was not happy about fast he wanted to grow up but his presence at the party wasn't exactly her choice. Dinah said the wrong thing on the phone to him and all hell broke loose. His sister couldn't hide anything from him anymore. Evan declared he would leave for college and never forgive her if she didn't do something to make up for lying to him—and that was to allow him to attend Shawn's and Kevin's birthday party. After several rounds of fighting, she reluctantly agreed and here he was now. Evan had endured an enormous amount of lectures in his life, which was a lot for an eighteen-year-old, but none compared to the one he got before they left the hotel—NO DRINKING! And she even told him in Turkish! There was also something else in there about not coming on to the divas, especially now he wasn't jailbait anymore. He didn't see the harm in it anymore since some of them were only a few years older than he. _But _he promised. He'd find another way to make the lie to the other camp counselors well worth it that he'd had a family emergency that would keep him away from camp Sunday and Monday. It was a really good thing that Therese and Kevin and the Michaelses had already left when that happened and most of everyone involved was too drunk to remember to tattle on him.

After several hours of socializing, Therese snuggled closer to her husband and asked, "Do you remember it was one of these parties that we first slept together?"

"How could I forget?" Kevin chuckled and she laughed with him. "I knew something was up when you said you wanted to go back to the hotel and change clothes."

"I left the bathroom door open to entice you in."

"I knew," he replied. Therese's mouth fell open and she slapped him on the arm. "I just wanted to play with you a little bit—make you wonder."

"You're terrible."

"I know."

"Wanna go back to the hotel or do I need to spill beer on my clothes again?" she asked, running a slow hand up his thigh.

"You just say the word and I'll be there," he replied, nuzzling her neck and sucking on her earlobe.

When Shawn and Stephanie noticed them leaving, Shawn leaned over to his wife. "I think I feel the flu coming back," he faked a cough, "wanna go indulge in what they're going to do?" At the beginning of the party, those who cared all made a comment on how glad to see that they were over the flu. It was then that Stephanie realized she hadn't exactly explained how they covered for the two wrestlers. After a few veiled comments, they got past the first well-wishers and Shawn demanded to know what was going on. It was several minutes before he could quit laughing to return to their guests.

"But what if I catch it from you?" Steph giggled.

"I don't know. You've already caught something else from me," he replied with a grin and danced light fingers across her abdomen.

"Hmm…well, I'm not ready to leave. Soooo, let's go do it in the car?"

"Fine by me," he eagerly replied and tugged her to her feet.

* * *

The question of the third party involved wouldn't be known for months until that person chose to reveal himself at the most opportune time. For now, he sat behind his desk at home and twiddled a pen, occasionally tapping it against the wooden top. He had just wired the money for payment of the job to the anonymous offshore account. Because Shawn and Kevin had not returned to work, he had assumed the job was done. 

All Jenkins and Bergeron had to do was abduct the men, hold them for a week or two—at least through the pay-per-view, send their wives on a snipe hunt, put a little beating on the two men, and then disappear to the Cayman Islands. The only time the two abductors were to contact him was if something went wrong. He assumed they were kicked back with several women and sipping on Mai-Tais while soaking up sand and sun. Even if they had gotten caught, the money was in the account and couldn't be traced to anyone. They would bide their time and then flee the country, he assumed. He paid them enough to do so. However, the money never came from his own pocket but through many faulty expense reports. No skin off his back if none of this plan unfolded correctly.

While the two men had not returned to work, he knew of the party raging at one of the staff's house. It was open invitation but he wouldn't have received one even if it wasn't. Michaels and Nash hated him more than anyone they had ever known but he had gotten his payback. They had forfeited their matches. He was still the General Manager of RAW for at least another year. Triple H smiled evilly to himself and tossed the pen down on the desk. He'd find another way to retain the position when that year was up.

FINI!

**

* * *

Author's Notes: **Once again, this concludes another story and another sequel. I would love to write another installment but I have no ideas and I think it's time I let Therese and Stephanie relax with their families. Suffice it to say that Triple H doesn't do anything else that drastic again to keep his position. What I put these characters through, I wouldn't be surprised if they rebelled and came after me through the computer if I started a third part of any of my stories. ;) 

Anyhow, thank you to everyone who has read and a special thanks to my reviewers—_karisma, WandaXmaximoff, Latisha C, MutantXHottie, wwechic1619, Jennifer Hyacinth, RAW1029, and Drea Majik Xavier_.


	21. Extended Epilogue

**Author's Notes: **My stories are acting all screwy with how they are posted in my account. So, to fix them, I'm having to post new chapters to each. And since I can't just post author's notes, I've written an epilogue of sorts.

_**Extended Epilogue**_

Therese heard her family coming long before she saw them. Stephanie was still asleep in the hospital bed and the blonde did not want her woken up if possible. She set her book aside and rose from the seat just as she saw her youngest daughter teeter by the door on unsteady feet. To have little balance and have only been walking for three months, the child was moving on very fast. Therese hurried out the door to scoop Lily up and give her husband a piece of her mind. He shouldn't have let her get away.

"I'm so glad you were there, Rese," Kevin said with a sigh, still attempting to peel his five year old daughter off his leg.

"I know she's walking, honey, but you can't just let her run away," she replied, switching Lily in her arms as the girl continuously wriggled to get down.

"Yeah, well," he gestured at Dinah, "I can't chase her with this one stuck on my left."

Therese shot him a 'see what I go through look' and he apologetically looked down but caught the little brunette untying his shoes while she sat on his foot, her legs clenched tightly around his ankle. "Dinah," her mother snapped and the little girl jerked her head up in surprise and it was just enough for Kevin to catch her off guard and pull her up in his arms.

"Behave," he whispered, "or you won't be able to see your new cousin."

"No, no, no, daddy," she whispered in response, placing her tiny hands on her father's cheeks.

"Rese," the woman in the room called out. "Is that the girls?"

"Yeah, Steph," Therese replied, carrying in her squirming fifteen-month-old. "They came to see the baby." She then turned back to her husband. "Did you call Evan?"

He resisted the urge to sarcastically reply, 'of course,' but then answered, "Yeah, I called. He'll be on a flight later this evening." Therese scowled at Kevin for allowing the boy to skip classes. "You know he'd do it anyhow whether or not I gave him permission." Therese muttered her agreement as Dinah somehow managed to wiggle out of Kevin's arms and was bouncing up on the bed before anyone could stop her.

"He's not in there anymore?" she asked, poking at Stephanie's stomach.

"Don't do that, baby," Therese chided and then looked over at her husband with a stern glance that said, 'Get her!'

"She's okay," Stephanie replied and hugged the little girl close. "You want to see him?" Dinah nodded vigorously and the new mother laughed as she pushed the button to call the nurses' station.

"Where's Shawn?" Kevin whispered.

"Finally getting something to eat," Therese replied. Linda, Shane, and Marissa McMahon had finally hauled him off to make him have breakfast. "It's been a long night. I wouldn't be surprised if he fell asleep in the cafeteria."

It had indeed been a long night…actually, it had been a very long week. Despite the fact that Triple H was still in power as GM of RAW, Stephanie had control of the television aspect of the business and she had granted both Shawn and Kevin the week off, Shawn because he was a week away from being a new father and Kevin because somebody had to watch the Nash children while Therese was staying with her. Actually, Kevin had brought the girls to Stamford halfway through the week and kept them out of the way, finding new ways to entertain his children by himself while in Connecticut.

The mom-to-be was in a panic over the coming baby and she didn't exactly want her mother there 24-7. The woman would drive her crazy. Plus, there was something weird about talking about private issues with her mother. She wanted Therese there, especially since it hadn't even been a year and a half since she went through childbirth. Her mother would probably tell her to suck it up while the blonde would knowingly understand.

Therese put up with all her aches and pains and all of the whining but she was also firm with her when it came to dealing with it. Shawn just wanted to give in and baby the woman but he just couldn't keep everything straight. Therese had been the one to pack the overnightbag for the hospital and even walk her through the first of the contractions. When her water broke, the wrestler panicked despite the fact that he had attended childbirth classes with her. Therese knew exactly what to do and calmed the first time parents-to-be and realized that it really was a good idea that she was there as a third person to take care of all the little things that nobody else thought of.

Once at the hospital, Therese left Shawn to call everyone on the list of those who needed to know now. There was a secondary list for when the baby was actually born. She then returned to Stephanie's room to find that there hadn't been any progress. After several hours, there was some concern that the doctor would have to perform a Caesarean but then she finally starting dilating like they wanted. Stephanie turned into an ultimate bitch by then and Therese was trying to placate her and soothe Shawn's hurt feelings. She really needed Kevin there to set the new father straight because his wife had said some very ugly things to her husband while in labor. When Linda arrived after breaking off a business meeting on the west coast and flying in immediately, Therese pulled Shawn out the hospital room to give him a breather.

By early morning, Sebastian Scott Michaels was brought into the world with a healthy set of lungs. With Linda and Shawn holding Stephanie's hands, Therese filmed the birth. She couldn't help but be jealous that the brunette had had a much easier time of things than she had had. Still, she had tears streaming down her face as Shawn cradled the tiny boy for the first time and then carefully laid the baby on his wife's breast.

It wasn't long past eight in the morning when Kevin brought his daughters in to see their mother and their "aunt," along with their new "cousin." Therese was still joking about how their children were going to be so screwed up over their relationship with their parents' best friends.

One of maternity nurses pushed Sebastian in and Dinah stared wide-eyed as if she had forgotten that she had seen her little sister that small not that long ago. The woman lifted the baby from the plastic cradle and carefully situated him at Stephanie's breast. Within seconds, the little boy was ready to eat—no surprise given his father's appetite. Dinah stared and carefully touched Sebastian's soft hand. Lily couldn't have cared less as she continued to wriggle around, wanting down in the floor. Considering how clean hospitals were, Therese gave up and set her down. She started making a beeline for the door on her hands and knees but got nowhere as Shawn swept her up in a hug.

"There's my favorite niece," he said, tossing her up in the air and eliciting a loud giggle. He always said that to provoke Dinah but she was too enthralled with the new baby. Linda, Shane, and Marissa were behind him, all three staring at the mother and child as well. Lily was too busy playing with Shawn's necklace to give a rip. One day, she would. Stephanie looked at all of them and grinned widely, afraid that if she spoke, it would ruin the moment.

Hardly did any of them think that they would all be gathered together twenty five years and two months to the day, staring enthralled at the man that Sebastian had grown into as he and Lily Nash pledged their undying love to each other. Only two years before that the same family had gathered in the same church to watch two more of their children marry—that time Stephen, Shane and Marissa's son, and Dinah exchanged vows. Their family relations were growing even more and more complicated, especially when Hunter Hearst Helmsly entered the picture. Two weeks after Stephen and Dinah's wedding, the Nashes and Michaels learned that Sarah, Shawn and Stephanie's twenty year old daughter, and the twenty-six year old Nathaniel Helmsley, the son Hunter didn't know about until the boy was thirteen, had eloped. As heart-wrenching as it had been, the marriage had healed a twenty-five year old rift that no one thought could be mended.

FINI!


End file.
